Meeting
with Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina
Vladimir
Putin had a working meeting with Governor of the Central Bank
Elvira Nabiullina to discuss the 2016 results.
March 22,
2017
15:30
The Kremlin,
Moscow
Meeting
with Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina.
The President
also informed Ms Nabiullina that he would propose to the State Duma
that they renew her mandate as Governor of the Central Bank.
*
* *
President
of Russia Vladimir Putin: Ms Nabiullina, let’s discuss
the results for 2016 and the start of 2017. How do you
assess the situation?
Governor
of the Central Bank Elvira Nabiullina: Overall,
the situation is normalising and developing. Looking
at the financial sector, we see that adaptation to the new
conditions is complete now. If you recall, four years ago, we planned some
changes to address problems that had built up with regulation
and oversight in the financial sector. Of course, external
events such as the big drop in oil prices
and the restrictions on our financial institutions’ access
to external markets had a big impact on our work. We were
obliged to take additional measures in order to help
the financial sector adapt to the new situation, and, most
importantly, help the economy to adapt.
As we
see it, the assessments show that 2014–2015 were difficult years
for the banking system. They lost profits (profits fell up
to five-fold) and their bad assets increased. But the results
for 2016 show that the banking sector has either returned
to the pre-2014 levels in most areas, or even surpassed
them. Profits and capital have recovered. We think the banking system
is ready now to increase lending, on a healthy
and good-quality basis, what’s more, in order to avoid risks
for banks’ depositors and creditors.
