Loans to small and medium-sized businesses grew by 42% in 2022 — National Bank of Bashkiria

According to the National Bank of Bashkiria, 320 working loans totaling 5 billion rubles were issued to small and medium-sized companies in the region in 2022.

175 companies received loans under the joint program of the Bank of Russia and the SME Corporation for 3.8 billion rubles.

As of December 1, 2022, the SME loan portfolio in the republic exceeded 150 billion rubles. It grew by 42% in a year.

Compared to SMEs, the portfolio of large business loans, as of November 1, 2022, grew only by 5.7% year-on-year, amounting to 415 billion rubles, Bashinform News Agency reported.

Last year, the regulator developed a Roadmap to support small and medium-sized companies for 2023–2024. The document was created taking into account the proposals of the business community, which primarily cares about the availability of loans, the National Bank recalled.

Concessional loan programs will focus primarily on financing investments that contribute to the economy's structural transformation. In parallel, revolving lending will develop.

A particular point is non-bank sources of financing. The Bank of Russia plans to create conditions for the active placement of shares on investment platforms.

The regulator also intends to provide small and medium-sized companies with access to the Know Your Customer platform to check counterparties and continue to work to reduce business costs when using the Faster Payments System.