MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The Russian Finance Ministry is planning to issue $6,968 billion worth of 30-year Eurobonds in Russian and international markets in 2018, according to the draft amendments to the budget published Thursday.
In March, Head of the ministry’s state debt department Konstantin Vyshkovsky told reporters that the Finance Ministry already has placed new issue of 11-year eurobonds worth $1.5 bln and additional issue of Russia-2047 eurobonds worth $2.5 bln in 2018.
“The Finance Ministry has a legal opportunity to issue new bonds in a total amount of $7 billion at face value in 2018, including $4 bln as part of the exchange, and $3 bln to raise funds for the budget. The budget already received $800 million, which means that $2.2 billion are remaining,” Vyshkovsky said.
The amendments were published on the Federal website for law drafts. Meanwhile, Finance Ministry will also use $43.7 billion in oil and gas revenues this year to buy foreign currency in the domestic market, boosting the purchases more than five times.
Draft amendments to the budget bills for 2018 and 2019 through 2020 were published on an official website. They point to a sharp rise in spending on foreign currency this year from the initial $8.5 billion.
The Russian finance authority has been reportedly buying foreign currency on the internal market with excess oil money since February 2017. Last year, it spent $13.4 billion on this kind of transactions. The purchased currency is used to fill the coffers of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund.
Earlier this year, Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak said that there was a plan of issuing Eurobonds also in euro and yuan.
Sourse: sputniknews.com
