OFZ
Rouble-denominated federal loan bonds the Russian finance ministry sells to cover its deficit.
OFZ bonds, Russia's rouble-denominated federal loan instrument, lost their main private buyers on 31 July 2026 when Sberbank said commercial banks can no longer absorb new issuance.
Last refreshed: 3 August 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
Who is left to buy Russia's government bonds now that its own banks cannot?
Timeline for OFZ
Banks stopped buying Russia's war debt
Russia-Ukraine War 2026Background
OFZ (Obligatsii Federal'nogo Zaima) are rouble-denominated federal loan bonds sold by the Russian Finance Ministry to cover the government's budget deficit, the principal domestic instrument for financing state borrowing.
Demand for the paper cratered on 31 July 2026, when Sberbank disclosed that its own lending capacity was fully committed to customers, leaving new OFZ issuance with no private buyer beyond the Central Bank of Russia .
That shift matters because OFZ sales have long been the mechanism through which Moscow rolls over and expands wartime borrowing; a narrowing buyer pool concentrates that financing in the central bank rather than the broader banking sector.
