MOSCOW, August 26. /TASS/. The portfolio of Russian banks’ unsecured consumer loans fell by half a percent in July after declining by 0.8% in June, according to the Central Bank’s files.

"According to preliminary data, the portfolio of unsecured consumer loans decreased by 0.5% in July after losing 0.8% in June. Cash loans were still not issued very actively," the Central Bank said, adding that in annual terms the decrease equaled 3.7%. As of August 1, the portfolio of such loans was worth 13.3 trillion rubles ($165 bln).

The share of bad loans in the retail sector continued to grow, although more slowly than in previous months (+0.1 percentage points, to 6% after an average of +0.2 percentage points in January-June), the regulator noted.