Senior Vice President and Head of the Financial Unit of Sberbank PJSC Taras Skvortsov has proposed raising the key interest rate in September 2024. According to the speaker, it is worth abandoning premature guesses, as there are indicators that portend a decrease in the real level of inflation in Russia in the second half of the year. This was reported to kp.ru by the speaker at the session “Investment climate in the Far East and new opportunities.”
– We allow the Central Bank to raise its key rate. At the same time, we do not exclude its preservation, as there are a number of signs that the measures of the Bank of Russia and the Government of the Russian Federation are bearing fruit. This is a decline in consumption in real terms: from 8% in the first half of the year to 5%. In August, the figure is even lower. The GDP growth rate is slowing down. The issuance of mortgage loans has decreased significantly – these are factors contributing to the reduction in inflation. Our forecast: the inflation trend, of course, remains slightly above this target. [диапазон – ред.]“The rate was set by the Central Bank. From this point of view, the regulator will decide on the key rate. It cannot be increased indefinitely: this leads to the fact that most agents begin to include an increased rate in their business plans and investment projects. This lengthens the period when inflation remains high,” explained Taras Skvortsov.
The senior deputy chairman of Sberbank added that it is worth waiting for the next meeting of the Central Bank. In any case, according to the expert, if the rate is raised, it will not have a real impact on the annual profits of companies in this period.
In addition, during the meeting with the press, the expert positively assessed the work on the withdrawal of frozen assets of Russians who were under pressure from sanctions. It is carried out in collaboration with Sberbank experts.
– The process is underway. We are having a fruitful discussion with the regulator and are gradually making progress. The length of the process is due to the fact that both we and the regulator are going through this process for the first time. Initially, the law intended to complete the asset allocation this year and we expected to do so. But now the law has been extended until 2025-2026, so there is no urgency in this matter.
Recall that in the summer of 2022, Law N292-FZ came into force, which allows sanctioned banks to transfer blocked assets to new legal entities.
