He explained the Government's measures on infusing liquidity into the banking system to provide loans for the real sector of the economy. According to Mr Kudrin, leading banks such as Sberbank, VTB, and Gazprombank mostly understand the difficulties companies are facing in repaying loans, and extend their repayment deadlines.
The volume of loans extended for the real sector of the economy is currently at the level of 17 trillion roubles, said Kudrin. "That is several times the annual budget of the Russian Federation," he said.
Mr Kudrin also said that "the loans volume is not decreasing, but continues to grow." He said that the monthly crediting growth was 1% to 3%, whereas the growth of crediting in the real sector of the economy between October 2007 and October 2008 amounted to 47%. "The crediting growth has been unprecedented," Kudrin said.
He also gave an assessment of the current situation in the world financial markets. According to Mr Kudrin, "Russia has fundamentally healthy economic indicators, large currency reserves and ‘safety cushions.'" Therefore, Russia "should be able to withstand this very aggressive external environment," Mr Kudrin said.
Russia's gold and currency reserves are placed in high-liquidity securities, said Kudrin. "These securities have not only maintained their value, but have become more profitable during the crisis," he said. According to Mr Kudrin, the demand for these securities increases during the times of crisis.