VLADIVOSTOK, September 7. /TASS/. Russia’s banking sector will be loss-making by the end of this year, Chief Executive Officer of Sberbank Herman Gref told an online press conference on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) on Wednesday.

"According to our estimations, the banking sector will remain loss-making this year," he said, adding that in the first half of the year the loss would reach 1.5 trillion rubles ($24.5 bln), whereas in the second half losses would notably decrease, though the sector would still remain loss-making.

Earlier, the Central Bank’s First Deputy Governor Dmitry Tulin said Russia’s banking sector sustained losses amounting to 1.5 trillion rubles ($25 bln) in January-June 2022 amid the crisis and the sanctions for the first time in seven years. Russia’s banking sector posted a record net profit of 2.4 trillion rubles ($40 bln) for 2021, whereas the banks’ stock of capital totaled 7 trillion rubles ($116 bln) as of January 1, he added.

Organized by the Roscongress Foundation, the Seventh Eastern Economic Forum is running from September 5 to September 8 in Vladivostok. TASS is the event’s general information partner and its official photohost agency. This year, the theme of the forum is: "On the Path to a Multipolar World".