For the first day, the Russians bought government federal bonds for individuals - 'people's bonds' - in the amount of 696.8 million rubles, the Russian Ministry of Finance said.
"The placed volume is 696,807 million rubles at nominal cost," TASS cited the statement as saying.
The bonds can be bought approximately 1.4 thousand branches of Sberbank and VTB 24 throughout Russia.
Advisor on macroeconomics to the CEO of the 'Opening-Broker' brokerage house, economist Sergey Hestanov, speaking to Vestnik Kavkaza, explained that such results became a surprise for financiers, because from the point of profitability, 'people's bonds' are comparable to conventional ones, but their other properties are less convenient.
The minimum purchase amount of securities of one issue is 30 thousand rubles and people must keep it at least a year. And to get the declared yield, you need to wait for three years. In addition, when buying and selling 'people's bonds', the commission is charged, which is 20 times higher than the ordinary commission," the expert said.
The economist explained that, most likely, the Ministry of Finance with the help of this product seeks to popularize the federal bonds market, and in future the parameters of the issue are likely to change. He stressed that in general, the state's interest in such products will grow.
According to Hestanov, the current program for issuing 'people's bonds' is less than 0.1% of the volume of bank deposits, so it can be called a debut issue, which is likely to be followed by new issues.
Professor of the RANEPA faculty of Finance, Money Circulation and Credit, Yuri Yudenkov, in turn, 'people's bonds' are perceived as a new tool for investing funds, and, in the future, more reliable and profitable. "On the one hand, they are very reliable, on the other hand, their profitability is higher than from bank deposits. Moreover, in the future, the yield on deposits will decline due to the reduction of the key rate, while those on 'people's bonds' promises to stay at the same level," the expert said.
