MOSCOW, October 31 (RIA Novosti) - VTB issued loans worth more than 68.8 billion rubles ($2.6 billion) in the last week of October, Russia's second-largest bank said in a statement on Friday.

VTB lent 10.5 billion rubles ($395.6 million) to transportation and mechanical engineering plants, 33 billion rubles ($1.24 billion) to ferrous and non-ferrous metals companies, 1.3 billion rubles ($49 million) to federal and regional government departments, and more than 24 billion rubles ($904 million) to companies in other sectors.

The bank also said it could grant another 24 billion rubles ($904.3 million) in loans, and is also considering lending a total of 18 billion rubles ($678 million) to large retailers.

VTB has lent the Russian Railways (RZD) monopoly 22.2 billion rubles ($836.5 million) in the past two months.

"The bank has given RZD 22.2 billion rubles in short-term loans since September 2008," the VTB statement said.