Inter-regional credit markets in Russia

This article explores the extent to which Russia has developed a single, integrated market for credit in the years since liberalization. Average interest-rate data from both the retail and wholesale credit markets are assessed as well as recent trends in interregional bank branching activity to evaluate whether politically imposed or transaction-cost-type barriers have prevented the free flow of credits between and among regions. Covered in the presentation are Russia's 11 economic regions, as well as a twelfth (Baltic) region encompassing Kaliningrad Oblast.