Russia's money supply expands 1.5% in Feb, annual growth slows to 18.3% - CBR estimate

MOSCOW. March 7 (Interfax) - Russia's M2 money supply grew by 1.5% to 99.3 trillion rubles in February after shrinking by 0.6% in January, the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) reported on its website, citing the latest data.

The annual growth of the money supply slowed to 18.3% by March 1 from 19.0% a month earlier.

The CBR said that in February, like in previous months, household funds continued to flow into ruble term deposits, as conditions remained attractive for savings in bank accounts given high interest rates. The annual growth of households' ruble term deposits accelerated to 38.5% from 37.4% in January.

Retail deposits, primarily ruble term deposits, contributed a definitive 9.7 percentage points to the annual growth of the broad money supply in February, significantly exceeding the contribution made by the deposits of other financial and nonfinancial organizations, which amounted to 3.5 pp.

The amount of currency in circulation, or M0, increased by 0.3% in February and its annual growth slowed further to 7.3% from 9.1% in January.

The broad money supply, adjusted for currency revaluation, increased by 1.4% in February after shrinking by 0.6% in January, but its annual growth slowed to 14.4% as of March 1 from 14.8% a month earlier.

The M2 money supply includes M1 (currency in circulation outside the banking system (M0) and balances in national currency in settlement, current and other demand accounts of households, nonfinancial and financial (other than credit) organizations that are residents of Russia) and balances in national currency in term deposits and other funds raised for a term of households, nonfinancial and financial (other than credit) organizations that are residents of Russia.

The broad money supply includes the M2 aggregate as well as all deposits in foreign currency, and deposit and savings certificates.