The head of VTB, Andrei Kostin, did not see the point in lending to small and medium-sized businesses, RBC reported on Tuesday, October 13, with reference to the statement of the head of VTB on the VTB Capital form “Russia is calling!”

“If today small and medium-sized businesses are not in demand in the country, there is no field of activity for them, then what is the point of lending to them? There will be bad debts. There is consumption, there is demand - there will be money, there is no consumption and demand - why flood the economy with cheap money? - Kostin explained his position.

In turn, Chairman of the Bank of Russia Elvira Nabiullina in an interview with CNBC said that the Russian banking system has adapted to the new changed conditions and is ready to increase lending to the real sector of the Russian economy.

According to her, “indeed, banks were in a difficult situation at the end of last year and at the beginning of this year.” “The cost of financing for them has skyrocketed. They reduced lending to the economy. But the situation began to change,” Nabiullina believes.

She noted that the Central Bank constantly analyzes all indicators of the banking system, and also monitors the situation with “bad assets” to be sure that banks “create sufficient reserves for bad loans.”

“In our opinion, the banking system has adapted to the new changed conditions and is ready to increase lending to the real sector of the Russian economy,” concluded the head of the Central Bank.

At the same time, earlier the President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) Sergei Katyrin stated that despite the readiness of the banking system, the real sector is not ready to receive credit in the current conditions.

“Today, the cost of loans is such that we can say that they are inaccessible to small and medium-sized businesses in the absence of benefits or subsidized rates,” Katyrin said in an interview with TASS on October 3.

The head of VTB did not see the point in lending to small and medium-sized businesses