Banks boost corporate lending by 1 trln rubles in Oct, lending to grow by 12.5% in 2022 - Nabiullina

MOSCOW. Nov 15 (Interfax) - Russian banks increased their corporate loan portfolio by 1 trillion rubles in October, and corporate lending could grow by 12.5% by the end of 2022, Central Bank of Russia (CBR) Governor Elvira Nabiullina said at a plenary session of the State Duma.

"Lending is growing at a pretty good pace right now. Only in Q3 our loans increased by 3.2 trillion rubles, and in October, according to preliminary data, by 1 trillion. We are arriving at lending growth of 12.5%, i.e. lending is growing and it will be higher than in 2021, when it was 11.7%," she said.

According to the Central Bank, the corporate portfolio in September increased by 2.5% (an increase of 1.3 trillion rubles). Since the start of the year, growth has amounted to 4.1 trillion (+8.1%), which is higher than during the same period last year (3.8 trillion, +8.0%).

The Central Bank is forecasting a 10-13% increase in the corporate loan portfolio in 2022 in its baseline scenario.