OREANDA-NEWS. The head of the Russian Ministry of Finance, Maxim Oreshkin, commented on the report of the Central Bank, which says that without the growth of consumer lending, economic growth in Q1 2019 would slow to zero.

 "An interesting logic is obtained: the more people drive the population into debt trap, the better," wrote Oreshkin on his Facebook page on Friday, June 28.  He is confident that the task of the Bank of Russia is to support the level of aggregate demand to ensure stable inflation, demand depends on investment, and not current consumption.

 "Consumer lending so far has contributed to the growth of consumption and GDP.  Slowing the growth of unsecured consumer lending will lead to a decrease in its contribution to economic growth in the short term, but it will contribute to more sustainable growth rates in the long term, "the Central Bank report says.