Corporate Lending in January-May 2022

Sergey A. Zubov – Senior Researcher of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, Candidate of Economic Sciences, Associate Professor (Moscow, Russia). Е-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Changing macroeconomic conditions owing to the imposed anti-Russian sanctions had a restraining effect on dynamics of corporate lending for legal entities. Growth in credit risk and a sharp increase in the key rate resulted in a reduction in the volume of loan applications and loan approval rate. Subsequently, gradual lowering of the key interest rate and other measures approved by the government and the Central Bank have helped to stabilize the situation in the corporate lending sector. Nevertheless, persistently high risks will have a negative impact in the near term on those indicators defining the quality of the bank’s corporate loan portfolio.

Key words: Russian banking sector, corporate lending, Bank of Russia, sanctions.

JEL-codes: D81, E58, G21, G38.