MOSCOW, February 21. /TASS/. Russian banks are operating steadily, and have a big safety net as the volume of bank loans to the corporate sector increased by 14%, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in his State of the Nation Address to the Federal Assembly on Tuesday.
"Domestic banks are operating steadily, have a solid margin of safety. In 2022, the volume of bank loans to the corporate sector increased. There were many concerns about this, but growth was recorded. It grew by 14%. This is more than in 2021 without any military operation," the head of state said.
In 2021, bank loans to the corporate sector grew by 11%, the mortgage portfolio grew by 20.4%, the President added.
"According to the results of last year, the banking sector as a whole turned a profit. Yes, it is not as big as in previous years, but decent - a profit of 203 billion rubles ($2.7 bln). This is also an indicator of the stability of the Russian financial sector," Putin stressed.