Cash in Russian economy to keep growing, Central Bank action needed — Sber

MOSCOW, August 28. /TASS/. The trend toward an increasing amount of cash in the Russian economy persists, and regulatory measures are already needed to support the financial market, Sberbank Deputy Chairman and CFO Taras Skvortsov told TASS in an interview ahead of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF).

"The trend toward an increasing amount of cash in the economy persists, and, in our view, regulatory measures are already needed to support the financial market. A structural liquidity deficit is emerging in the banking sector, something we have not seen for many years, and this is a clear sign that the problem is growing," he said.

"We currently expect around 4.2 trillion rubles in liquidity to shift into cash by the end of 2026 - the actual figures for July exceeded our forecast. We will see what happens in the fourth quarter, but so far, we have not seen any significant positive changes," Skvortsov added. Nevertheless, in his view, the Russian financial market has a sufficient margin of resilience to expect the situation to normalize.