Russia's external debt up 3 bln U.S. dollars in January-June 2016

Russia's external debt increased by 3 billion U.S. dollars in the first half of 2016 to 521.5 billion dollars, Central Bank of Russia said on Wednesday.

"The increase of the external debt of the country resulted from more active nonresidents' purchases of ruble-denominated sovereign debt instruments in the secondary market," it said.

According to the central bank, declaration of shareholder dividends by Russian companies, which are reflected as companies' foreign liabilities before actual payments are made, has also contributed to the growth of the external debt.

The composition of external debt continued to be dominated by private sector liabilities, of which one third was accounted for by banks and two thirds by other sectors of the economy, it said. Endi