Russians inclined now to bank credits:Russia has plunged itself into a world of consumption. Retail sales have witnessed a double digit growth. Also car dealers and electronics shops are not far behind. The consumer boom is credited largely to the banks that grant easy credits to their customers. The increasing sales of goods bought on credit have been accompanied by a growth in the share of overdue loans.
Taking out credit for the purchase of a car, television set or a cell phone has recently become very common in Russia. The consumer behavior of an average Russian citizen is changing very much before our eyes. In the last seven years the value of purchases made on credit has grown 80-fold, from 27.6 billion rubles in 2000 (1.01 billion euros at the then exchange rate) to 2,233 billion rubles (64.3 billion euros) as of April 1, 2007. Many economists say that in Russia growing consumption is the most effective booster for banking and the economy as a whole. Sometimes even the required commodities were in short supply, and sometimes people did not have enough money to buy them.
People in Russia are now more and more willing to borrow money. Bank deposits are increasing slower than the amount of credit granted. In the last three years, the former have been going up at a rate of 30%-40% and the latter at 75%-100% a year. In 2000, the volume of bank deposits was 10.8 times greater than consumer credit, whereas today it is only twice as big.
