Russia's bank lending market continues to cool in Dec - Central Bank

MOSCOW. Jan 17 (Interfax) - The growth rate in corporate lending continued to cool in December, with one of the factors being a more pronounced seasonal increase in government expenditures, part of which budget recipient companies utilized to repay debt, the Central Bank of Russia said in a commentary on monetary conditions.

Operational data indicate that the retail lending market continued to cool in December, primarily owing to reducing the portion of the loan portfolio with maturities over one year.

Sberbank , which is the largest lender on the market, published figures to Russian Accounting Standards for December on Friday. The bank said that there was a decline of 0.1% in real terms in the retail and corporate portfolios for the first time since 2022, under pressure from strict monetary policy and banking sector regulation.