Small business took the record – Newspaper Kommersant No. 34 (7479) dated 28.02.
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In December 2022, the volume of loans to small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) in the Russian Federation set a historical record – 1.36 trillion rubles. Experts note the significant role of preferential lending programs and believe that against the backdrop of a decrease in the activity of large players and the development of parallel imports, SME financing will continue to grow.
The Central Bank published a statistical bulletin “Lending to small and medium-sized businesses.” According to the document, in December 2022, the volume of loans to SMEs set an absolute record in the entire history of observations – 1.36 trillion rubles. The average loan amount was RUB 6.3 million, the highest since July 2021. The total volume of the SME loan portfolio grew by almost 30% over the year, exceeding RUB 9.6 trillion. At the same time, the delay in the total volume decreased from 8.1% to 5.6%.
As told to “Kommersant” in the PSB, December is traditionally “the most dynamic month in SME lending”, in addition, he continued “the trend of the whole year, which turned out to be a record for the sector.” In particular, the share of concessional loans increased: in PSB it was 25%, and at the beginning of 2023 it already exceeded 35%. Alfa-Bank also noted an increase in SME loans under preferential programs from less than 5% in 2021 to 25% by the end of 2022. The collateral allows banks to provide SME customers with preferential terms of service and rates, while not reducing the level of profitability on the loan, notes FBK partner Anastasia Terekhina.
Regional business support programs and benefits from special economic territories could also contribute to the record, says Ilya Zharsky, managing partner of the Veta expert group. “If these measures are maintained, I believe activity will continue this year, but we should not forget about the percentage of businesses that will be weeded out one way or another due to the failure of the business model or the unpredictability of economic conditions,” he says.
The banks themselves receive subsidies within the framework of concessional lending to SMEs. “As a result, income from working with SMEs can in some cases be equal, and sometimes even higher, than when lending to large businesses,” says Ms. Terekhina. But getting a soft loan for business is not easy: you will need to provide the bank with a considerable package of documents, get a guarantee and prove your status. That is why, experts say, the share of credited entities is small.
Yury Belikov, Managing Director of Expert RA, clarifies that the bulk of the funds issued under the December record are “ordinary revolving commercial loans”. Alfa-Bank confirms this assessment.
In 2023, the overall portfolio of SME loans will continue to grow, but the pace may slow down, Mr. Belikov believes. Such a forecast is associated with the stagnation of real incomes and an increase in the debt burden of the main retail consumers of goods and services offered by SMEs. “Banks are often most interested in comprehensive customer service for SMEs, including acquiring, settlement and cash services and lending, there is a balancing of interest and commission income from work,” explains Yuri Belikov.
Independent expert Olga Ulyanova clarifies that “large companies are hiding and not investing, rather accumulating funds, while SMEs are becoming more active in order to replace their trade and financial flows.” “This includes, among other things, the import of technologies within the framework of parallel imports, so the prospects for the development of SMEs in Russia are quite obvious,” she believes. This assumption is confirmed by the statistics of the Central Bank, according to which the total issuance of loans to legal entities and individual entrepreneurs decreased by more than 1 trillion rubles year-on-year, from 9.2 trillion rubles. in December 2021 to 8 trillion rubles. in December 2022.
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