#13 - JRL 7246
HOUSING MORTGAGE CREDITING IN RUSSIA MAY REACH 5 PERCENT OF GDP

MOSCOW, July 14, 2003. /From RIA Novosti correspondent Tatiana Zakharchenko/--By 2010, the volume of housing mortgage credits in Russia may be as high as 5 percent of the GDP, believes Alexander Semenyaka, director-general of OAO Agency for Housing Mortgage Crediting. He was speaking on Monday at a Russian-American conference on housing mortgage crediting.

Semenyaka noted that more mortgage credits would improve housing conditions for 3 million Russian families.

"A credit at 15 percent per annum for a period of 20 years is within reach of medium-income families," Semenyaka noted.

According to the director-general, in Russia mortgage crediting is only just making its debut, but already is of interest to foreign investors. During the second quarter of this year, the Russian banks attracted something like 200 million dollars for implementing a programme of this kind of crediting.