Putin asks experts to improve lending to small businesses
NOVO-OGARYOVO. July 5 (Interfax) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has asked new Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev, new Chairman of the Central Bank Elvira Nabiullina and his Aide for Economic Affairs Andrei Belousov to come up with measures that would improve the mechanisms for lending to small businesses.
"What's interesting from a practical HR point of view is that our current director of the Central Bank dealt with SME issues, and today's presidential advisor for economic affairs also pulled this difficult cart, and now the former deputy director of the Central Bank is dealing with this problem," the Russian president said at a meeting on banking sector development on Thursday.
It is easier and safer, of course, for banks to work with large companies, but large companies are far from being the entire economy, Putin stressed.
Interest rates on loans for small businesses are several percentage points higher than those for large companies, "but it needs to be the opposite," Putin said.
