Bashkortostan calls on banks to cooperate

Taking into account the fact that the banking sector in Bashkiria is growing rapidly, the leadership of the republic intends to expand cooperation with financial institutions. Local authorities are trying to attract banks so that they take an active part in the development of the republic’s economy.

The President of Bashkiria, speaking at a meeting held at the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus, said that the main task for 2018 is to increase the availability of banking services to the level of those regions that hold leading positions in this matter. Also at the meeting, the results of the past 2017 were discussed and the tasks for 2018 were set. One of these tasks is to increase the participation of the financial sector in the republican gross product from 0.2-0.3% to 0.6-0.7%, which is approximately 2-2.5 times. The government of the republic, headed by the President of Bashkortostan Rustem Khamitov, is confident that it will cope with this goal, since the economic situation in the republic is gradually stabilizing. The GDP indicator increased by 9%, thereby breaking the mark of 900 billion rubles. The volume of industrial production increased by 9.5%, in agriculture the republic also achieved significant success. According to the President, a lot has been done in relation to the banking sector over the past year. For example, there was an increase in the money supply in circulation by 5% (420 billion rubles), the banking network has expanded significantly, now Bashkiria is in fifth place in Russia in terms of the number of bank branches. Lending in the republic is increasingly in demand among the population, for whom a credit card has become as familiar as a mobile phone. Its volume exceeded 5 billion rubles, despite the fact that its share in 2016 was 6.5 percent, and today it is equal to 9 percent (the president, however, stressed that in some regions the figure reached 25 percent). Outlining the goals of the coming year, the head of the republic emphasized the need for even more intensive participation of financial organizations in raising the level of the economy of Bashkortostan, a significant increase in the volume of loans, the number of investment projects. One of the primary tasks is the development of the structure of project financing, since in the republic this area is far from perfect and requires serious improvements. The provision of loans to the agro-industrial complex, construction of housing, lending to small and medium-sized businesses, raising the level of financial literacy of the residents of Bashkiria can also be considered no less important points for directed cooperation between banks and management..