Central bank puts Russians' debt burden at historical high of 11.9%

MOSCOW, May 28 (PRIME) -- Russians' debt burden reached a historical record of 10.9% of income on April 1, the central bank said in a statement on Thursday.

"The households’ debt burden (calculated as the amount of obligatory payments on loans as percentage of disposable income) was 10.9% as of April 1, a historical high, and in unsecured consumer lending it reached the level of 2014," the central bank reported.

The overall debt burden grew mostly due to higher unsecured lendin,g which creates potential risks of retail loan portfolio quality deterioration. 

But the authority said that the Russian financial sector is healthy despite an unpreceded shock of the coronavirus.

"A mild monetary policy supports lending and ensures stable dynamics of interest spending of the banking sector. Regulative easing and reduction of macroprudential extra payments will allow banks to cover the losses gradually and ensure uninterruptedness of the activities," the central bank said.

Russian banks have enough capital to cover possible loan losses, with capital reserves of banks at 5 trillion rubles, the authority said.

The bank expects structural liquidity surplus of the banking sector to persist in the medium term.   

(71.0635 rubles – U.S. $1)

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