Russia will open a renminbi clearing house at the end of this month, bringing it a step closer towards issuing renminbi-denominated bonds, a deputy governor of the country’s central bank said. Speaking at the opening of a Beijing representative office for Russia’s central bank, Dmitry Skobelkin said a renminbi clearing house will be opened on March 22 in Moscow, a precondition for issuing the bonds, writes Emily Feng. Mr Skobelkin said Russia’s finance ministry is to issue $1bn-worth of renminbi denominated bonds with unspecified tenure time in “one to two months’ time ideally”, adding that the timeframe was not yet fixed as the issuance “is not only up to us”. The plans to issue the bonds have been delayed by a series of factors, with the Russian side now awaiting confirmation that there are no regulatory issues remaining to prevent Chinese investors from buying. “Chinese Capital controls were at play in the delay of the renminbi bond issuance, some things had to be done on the Russian side,” said Vladimir Shapovalov, a senior official with the central bank. The Russian central bank’s representative office in Beijing is its first foreign representative office. The Russian central bank and the People’s Bank of China agreed to a currency swap in 2014 which has been utilised to swap 815bn roubles and Rmb850bn.
Russia is opening a renminbi clearing house at the end of March thereby bringing it closer to issuing renminbi-denominated bonds following a series of delays. Russia’s finance ministry is to issue $1bn-worth of renminbi denominated bonds, says Financial Times' Emily Feng.