OREANDA-NEWS By the end of September, the growth rate of retail lending to Russians slowed down. This was stated by Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank (CB) Alexey Zabotkin, his words are quoted by Interfax.

Zabotkin stressed that such dynamics in the first month of autumn were recorded not only in the segment of preferential mortgages. The slowdown in retail lending in Russia has been observed since July. "The operational data for September show the same thing," he explained.

At the same time, it is too early to talk about a slowdown in growth rates in the corporate lending segment. There is no significant decline in this sector. He explained this circumstance by high investment demand and the need to increase the volume of monetary investments in the Russian economy. "Under these conditions <...> corporate lending will slow down more slowly than retail lending," summed up the deputy chairman of the Central Bank.

Earlier, the regulator called the slowdown in lending growth in the retail and corporate segments one of the key conditions for reducing consumer prices in Russia. However, the current dynamics (primarily in the corporate sector) are not yet sufficient for a steady decline in inflation. As soon as the growth rates of the loan portfolios of Russian banks begin to decrease noticeably, the Central Bank will be able to move to a gradual weakening of the PREP. Currently, it is premature to talk about reducing the key rate, among other things.