Banks continue to curtail funding for the economy

Banks of the Russian Federation in February reduced loans to non-financial sector by 0,7%, 0,6% for natural persons, said the first deputy chairman Gennady Melikyan. In January, the indicators also declined, corporate portfolio - by 0,3%, loans to individuals by 0,8%. "In the first half of March, these figures do not grow ... maybe up to a month the same level (which is up to the February - Ed.)" - He said. Meanwhile, the volume of overdue loans to non-financial institutions increased to 6.18% volume of the delay on a portfolio of loans to individuals - up to 7.31%. According to him, the amount of outstanding debt as of March 1 for non-financial institutions amounted to 768.2 billion rubles in the amount of the loan portfolio to 12.422 trillion rubles. On February 1, these rates were at levels of 760.4 billion rubles, respectively, and 12.504 trillion rubles. Delay individuals was March 1, 257.7 billion rubles in the portfolio 3.526 trillion rubles. As of February 1 - 250,0 billion rubles and 3.545 trillion rubles, respectively. "Growth of the delay slows down," - noted Melikyan. According to international ratings agency Standard & Poor's, the amount of overdue debts to banks of the Russian Federation will not be less than 10% for at least the next two years. "We are seeing a trend toward gradual improvement in asset quality while reducing bad debt in the second half of 2010, but the next two years to talk about a return to pre-crisis levels until you have" - ??said a senior analyst Ekaterina Trofimova reporters Wednesday, adding that "the next few years will involve a two-digit values." Director of the department of banking regulation and supervision of the Bank of Russia Alexey Simanovsky in January in an interview with RIA Novosti predicted that the share of overdue debt of Russian banks by mid-2010 could grow to 9-11% of the loan portfolio. Then the Central Bank expects its gradual decline. "We expect up to two thirds of bad debts recovered, but the dynamics of the banking sector is already undermined by the crisis, many banks are weakened," - said Mills. Trofimova recalled that last year the liquidity of the banking sector was supported mainly by state funds and the growth of private deposits (almost 27% per year). "Large-scale crisis of confidence has been avoided," - said the analyst. The agency expects credit growth to 10%.