84 RUSSIA - CREDIT 



Twice a year (on January ist. and July ist.), all the inspectors must 

 report on the situation of the co-operative societies in the districts entrust- 

 ed to them. 



We reproduce below a table showing the total debits and credits of 12,237 

 popular credit co-operative institutions on July ist., 1913. 



Thousands 



of Roublo % 



Debits : 



Share Capital 79>498 13.0 



lyoans from the State Bank 111,678 18.3 



Loans from Other Institutions 386,390 63.4 



Miscellaneous 32,271 5,3 



Total . . . 609,837 100,0 



Credits . 



Cash, Amounts invested in Credit Instit- 

 utions and Documents of Title 54o26 8.9 



lyOans 519,101 85.1 



Miscellaneous 36,410 6 



Total 609.837 100,0 



As we see, the Government has lent the credit co-operative societies 

 more than 100,000,000 roubles. 



What is still more characteristic of the credit co-operative societies of 

 Russia is the large number of members in the societies; on January ist., 1912, 

 the average number per society was 556 ; on January ist., 1913, 599 ; and 

 on July 1st, 1913 it had increased to 607. This is because the Russian co-oper- 

 ative society does not limit its business to one village alone (as the 

 German societies do) ; the Russian societies are obUged to extend their 

 action to immense districts often inhabited by more than a thousand 

 famihes. 



lyct us add that the average indebtedness of each member is very 

 low; the average loan per member was on January ist., 1913 only 60.2 

 roubles. 



The rate of interest the societies charge is very high ; in those nev\ly 

 founded it is usually as much as 12 %; the lowest rate charged is 10 %, af- 

 ter three or four years of work. This is due to the scarcity of money 

 in Russia. 



The rate of discount the State Bank charges the popular credit in- 

 stitutions is 6 %. 



