BEIJIN, October 13 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's finance minister expressed concern Friday over excessive consumer borrowing in the country.
"The volume of consumer loans [in Russia] is rapidly growing, and it is a worrying trend because the recoverability of these loans could be risky," Alexei Kudrin said at a business conference on the first day of his October 13-16 visit to China.
Kudrin said the amount of consumer loans in 2005 constituted 5.5% of Russia's gross domestic product. According to the Finance Ministry estimates, this indicator will grow to 9% in 2007, and 10.1% in 2009.
He also said that the volume of industrial loans totaled 19.8% of GDP in 2005, and is projected to reach 23.7% in 2007, and 28.2% in 2009.
