UPDATE: Medvedev: Govt to inject 20 bln rbl in Russian Ag Bank in 2018

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GORKI, Moscow Region, Oct 1 (PRIME) -- The government will inject 20 billion rubles in Russian Agricultural Bank in 2018 and more money in 2019, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev told the bank’s CEO Boris Listov on Monday.

“To ensure the necessary level of support, the necessary level of liquidity so that you are able to grant credits to farmers, I have decided to inject capital in the bank. We will allocate 20 billion rubles in 2018 and will continue injections next year,” he said.

Listov said that his bank’s aggregate credit portfolio amounted to 2.2 trillion rubles as of September 1, including 1.2 trillion rubles issued to farm companies and 335 billion rubles to small and medium entrepreneurs. In January–August, the bank granted over 700 billion rubles of loans to farmers, a 6% rise on the year.

“In 2018, the credit portfolio rose 13.8% while the market increased 9.9% on the average,” he said.

The CEO also said that the bank’s operating profit amounted to 44 billion rubles in January–August, of which 38 billion rubles was used to purge the capital from bad assets.

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