MOSCOW, January 12. /TASS/. Russia’s automobile market shrank by 11% in 2014 from the previous year to 2.3 million cars, according to data released by Avtostat analytical agency on Monday.

In value terms, the Russian car market was unchanged from 2013 at 2.3 trillion rubles (about $60 billion), Avtostat said.

Avtostat expects the Russian car market capacity to shrink in both US dollar and ruble terms in 2015 due to a “considerable rise in car prices and the reduced purchasing power of the population as a result of a deterioration in the economic situation,” the agency said.

As auto lending shrank considerably in the fourth quarter of 2014, the volume of loans for the purchase of cars fell by about 20% to 600 billion rubles ($16 billion), according to Avtostat estimates.

“At the same time, the volume of cash rubles spent on cars grew by 8% to 1.7 trillion rubles ($44 billion),” Avtostat said.

In dollar terms, the Russian car market contracted by 19% to $59.6 billion from $73.9 billion in 2013 due the ruble’s slump, Avtostat said.