Russian Finance Ministry aims to raise up to 150 bln rubles with OFZ bonds in Q4

MOSCOW. Oct 3 (Interfax) - Russia's Finance Ministry plans to place OFZ federal bonds in the amount of up to 150 billion rubles at face value in the fourth quarter of 2022, the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry is planning a total of 12 auction days, including four in October, five in November and three in December, with the last one scheduled for December 21.

It will offer up to 120 billion rubles worth of bonds with duration of five to 10 years and 30 billion rubles worth of bonds with duration upwards of 10 years.

The ministry skipped several auction days at the beginning of the year due to high market volatility, and after the start of the military operation in Ukraine no OFZ bonds were placed until mid-September. Returning to the market in September, the ministry planned to borrow 40 billion rubles, but it did not manage this in the remainder of the month. Only one of the three planned auctions went ahead, the first on September 14, when the ministry placed 10 billion rubles worth of bonds.

Next year, according to the draft federal budget law, gross domestic borrowing is supposed to total 2.5 trillion rubles. In addition, under amendments to the Budget Code submitted at the same time as the draft budget, the ministry will have the right to borrow up to an additional 1 trillion rubles to replace the use of money from the National Welfare Fund.