OREANDA-NEWS. November 11, 2008. VTB Group pursues its activities in financing priority industries of Russia’s economy. Since early September 2008, Russian banks of VTB Group have provided loans and credits worth RUR 377 billion to enterprises, including RUR 120 billion in September, RUR 229 billion in October and RUR 28 billion in the first week of November. More than RUR 20 billion were channeled to small and medium-size businesses, reported the press-centre of VTB.

Vast resources were lent to support the key industries of the Russian economy, in particular, ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy – RUR 94 billion, engineering and power industries – RUR 33 billion; trade – RUR 32 billion; construction – RUR 20 billion; oil and gas – RUR 13 billion; transportation – RUR 13 billion; defense, space and nuclear industries – RUR 7 billion; food and agriculture – RUR 6 billion A significant amount was allocated to chemical industry, municipal authorities, utilities, healthcare, financial companies and other industries.

According to IFRS, VTB Group corporate loan portfolio grew by RUR 667 billion over the 10 months of 2008 as compared to 363 billion over the same period in 2007.

At the same time, the Group continued to actively develop retail lending. According to IFRS, VTB Group retail loan portfolio grew by RUR 183 billion over the 10 months of 2008 or 97%. It is 2.5 times as much as the market average and largely compensates the decreased rates of retail lending in the Russian market as compared to previous year. The Group’s mortgage portfolio increased by RUR 91 billion over the same period, including RUR 19 billion in September and October.

In October 2008, VTB, being a backbone bank of the Russian financial sector, continued to support liquidity in the interbank lending market. Daily volume of lending to domestic banking companies approximated RUR 44 billion in interbank loans and RUR 35 billion in repo transactions.

Citing Andrei Kostin, VTB’s President and Chairman of the Management Board, “VTB Bank intends to increase its financial support to the non-financial sector of the Russian economy. In November 2008, we are planning to channel at least RUR 190 billion to large companies of the real sector, and RUR 20-25 billion to medium-sized companies. We are sure to maintain the sufficient volume of lending to ensure stability of Russia’s economy amidst the crisis.”