The state authorities report people have stopped taking their savings out of the banks. What is more, they have actually been depositing more money with the banks since the beginning of winter.

First Deputy Head of Government Igor Shuvalov announced last week that the Russian banks’ total deposit volume had gone up over December 1-15, 2008. He said the banking system could already boast a certain surplus, with the banks getting more money than giving any out. At the same time, the Central Bank of Russia was reported to announce that most banks had a zero-sum balance sheet as recently as November 2008.

Meanwhile, Deposit Insurance Agency, the state-run corporation, claims the deposit influx is to remain at about 5% this December. The Agency’s General Director Alexander Turbanov says the influx is expected to go up 10% to 12% throughout the coming year.

‘As for SKB-Bank, our deposit volume soared by over 1 billion RUR in the first weeks of December alone, whereas our total private individuals’ deposit volume amounts to 12 billion RUR,’ the spokesperson for the bank said to an UrBC reporter.