Public joint-stock company, Sberbank Russia (MCX:SBER), set a historical record in August 2023 by issuing nearly 11,000 individual housing construction (IZhS) mortgages, totaling 47.5 billion rubles, according to data from Domklik. This marks a 20% increase in volume from July, with IZhS transactions making up over 9% of total bank deliveries in August. The announcement was made by Sberbank's press service during the East Economic Forum, as reported by IrkutskMedia. By year-end, Sberbank forecasts that the total amount of IZhS deliveries will reach RUB 350 billion (RUB 1 = $0.011), a significant increase of 3.5 times compared to 2022.
On the same day, Sberbank CEO Herman Gref commented on the potential growth of the Russian economy in 2023. Gref suggested that while it is challenging to make precise predictions at this point, he anticipates growth between 2% and 3%. He noted that the rate increase and measures to make loans less affordable could negatively impact GDP, but emphasized that there are still four months left in the year to assess how the economy reacts.
This outlook aligns with recent revisions from the Central Bank of Russia and the Economic Development Ministry. The Central Bank improved its forecast for Russia's economy on July 21, now expecting GDP to grow by 1.5-2.5% instead of its April forecast of 0.5-2.0%. Similarly, the Economic Development Ministry's official forecast from April projects that GDP will expand by 1.2% in 2023, but top officials have already indicated that growth might exceed 2%. The ministry is expected to revise its forecast in the coming days.
Adding to these projections, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov recently stated that Russia's GDP could grow by more than 2.5% in 2023.
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