Russia central bank says sold 119.9bn roubles of OFZs in April-May

MOSCOW: The Russian central bank said on Wednesday it had sold 119.9 billion roubles ($1.8 billion) of OFZ government bonds from its own portfolio in April and May this year.

The bank said it had sold 60.7 billion roubles of the bonds in April and 59.2 billion roubles in May and that the OFZ sales were helping to absorb liquidity flowing into the economy as the Reserve Fund was being spent.

It had 78.3 billion roubles of OFZs left in its portfolio as of the beginning of June, according to a statement on its website.

The central bank added it would continue to sell OFZs and would inform the market about the volumes it had sold every month.