Page 91 - RusRPTFeb24

of deposits was influenced by the ongoing rise in interest rates (reaching 14.75% at the end of December compared to 13.63% at the end of November), including thanks to New Year marketing offers. The majority of deposits, as in November, were attracted for periods ranging from six months to one year.
Overall, in 2023, household funds grew by 7.4 trillion rubles (+19.7%), nearly three times higher than in 2022 (+6.9%). This significant inflow was due to social and budgetary payments, wage growth, and the return of cash to banks due to deposit rate increases.
In December, the volume of funds in escrow accounts decreased (-136bn rubles, -2.4%) after a +4.6% increase in November, despite the continued growth in mortgages. This was caused by a record volume of opening these accounts (preliminary data indicate around 800bn rubles in December, compared to 321bn rubles in November) due to the traditional year-end mass housing commissioning. In total, for the year, funds in escrow accounts increased by 38.4%, or 1.5 trillion rubles, which is 1.5 times more than in 2022 (+1 trillion rubles).
In December, there was an outflow of state funds amounting to 2.6 trillion rubles (-19.4%) following a weak inflow in November (+1.0%) due to the typical year-end increase in budget expenditures. Both the Federal Treasury (-1.4 trillion rubles, -13%) and regional budgets (-1.2 trillion rubles, -46.2%) saw a decrease in funds. It's worth noting that the outflow of state funds would have been greater if not for the receipts from the sale of foreign currency by the Ministry of Finance of Russia from the National Welfare Fund outside the budget rule.
Overall, in 2023, state funds increased by 2.2 trillion rubles (+26%), primarily driven by the growth of non-oil and gas revenues (+4 trillion rubles, +25% compared to 2022).
In December, loans from the Bank of Russia remained almost unchanged (+71 billion rubles, +1.4%). However, over the course of the year, they increased significantly by 1.1 trillion rubles (+26.3%), with banks mainly attracting loans secured by non-market assets.
91 RUSSIA Country Report February 2024 www.intellinews.com