On OFZ sales from Bank of Russia portfolio
During the period between April 2016 and August 2017, the Bank of Russia sold federal government bonds (OFZs) with a total nominal value of 195.988 billion rubles from its portfolio. Additionally, between January 2016 and August 2017, the Bank of Russia redeemed its OFZs with a total nominal value of 43.685 billion rubles. In August 2017, the Bank of Russia and the Russian Ministry of Finance conducted an operation to exchange OFD-ADs owned by the Bank of Russia to OFZ-PDs based on the principle of equal market values. As a result, the nominal value of the Bank of Russia’s portfolio reduced by 3.535 billion rubles.
| OFZ nominal value, billion rubles | |
| Sold in April 2016 | 60.694 |
| Sold in May 2016 | 59.207 |
| Sold in June 2016 | 11.580 |
| Sold in July 2016 | 0.630 |
| Sold in August 2016 | 1.168 |
| Sold in September 2016 | 3.456 |
| Sold in October 2016 | 3.833 |
| Sold in November 2016 | 2.307 |
| Sold in December 2016 | 0.335 |
| Sold in January 2017 | 0.895 |
| Sold in February 2017 | 0.597 |
| Sold in March 2017 | 0.644 |
| Sold in April 2017 | 0.292 |
| Sold in May 2017 | 0.039 |
| Sold in June 2017 | 0.036 |
| Sold in July 2017 | 0.232 |
| Sold in August 2017 | 50.043 |
| Decrease in the portfolio’s nominal value caused by the OFZ exchange operation | 3.535 |
| Redeemed since 1 January 2016 | 43.685 |
| Balance as of 1 September 2017 | 4.862 |
The Bank of Russia’s OFZ sales serve to partially absorb the liquidity inflow related to the financing of federal deficit from the Reserve Fund. In addition, OFZ sales may help increase the liquidity and depth of the secondary government bond market.
The Bank of Russia sells OFZ issues at the Moscow Exchange trades. At the same time, the Bank of Russia aims to minimise the effect of these sales on the OFZ market climate.
The Bank of Russia will continue to sell OFZs and report on the volume of such sales on a monthly basis.
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