German Gref called mortgages the future growth driver of the Russian economy

The head of Sberbank German Gref named a recipe for Russia's economic growth: mortgages and construction will increase GDP growth rates, and digital technologies will help fight poverty, the banker said at a meeting with Vladimir Putin.

At a meeting with the president, a top manager of Sberbank said that he considers Russia to be heavily undercredited in the mortgage loans segment. Gref pointed out that the country has the potential for mortgage growth by 2.5 times.

German Gref

Head of Sberbank

Mortgages are still at a very low level in relation to GDP. <...> In the coming years, we will also have demand in the construction and building materials market, which is good. Therefore, if such an inflationary wave does not hurt so much, if it does not continue as it is now, then in principle we would see mortgages and construction as one of the drivers of economic growth.

At the same time, in September, the head of the Central Bank, Elvira Nabiullina, expressed the opposite position. According to the head of the Bank of Russia, the country is approaching the limit of mortgage growth. According to her, the authorities need to "be very careful to ensure that mortgages grow in line with the growth in incomes of the population."

Gref also told Putin that, according to Sberbank estimates, GDP growth will be around 4.5% in 2021, while expectations for next year are generally “quite good” – around 3% of GDP. The bank’s forecast coincides with the latest figures provided by the Central Bank: GDP growth in 2021 by 4.0–4.5%, and in 2022–2024 by 2.0–3.0% annually.

The head of Sberbank promised the president that digital technologies would soon help to work more accurately to overcome poverty in the country. The banker added that Sberbank and the Russian government are already working on creating a "social treasury."