MORTGAGE CREDIT SYSTEM IN THE MIDDLE DNIEPR REGION DURING THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19TH – BEGINNING OF THE 20TH CENTURY

The purpose of the article is to reveal the essence, organisational principles, and functioning of the mortgage credit system in the Middle Dneprian region during the second half of the 19th–early 20th centuries, as well as to determine its significance for the socio-economic development of the region, in particular for supporting the agricultural sector. The research methodology is based on the fundamental principles of historical research: historicism, systematicity, and objectivity in the selection of facts and documents. Scientific novelty of the publication. The organisational principles of the activities of mortgage institutions, their key functions and role in providing financial support to the agricultural sector, the impact of mortgage lending on the economic development of the region, its social aspects, and adaptation to changes in the agricultural market in the context of reforms and modernisation are analyzed. It is emphasised that since the mid-1860s, a mortgage lending system based on new capitalist principles began to form in the territory of the Middle Dniepr region. The mechanisms of mortgage lending and their impact on the economic situation in Ukraine are studied. Special attention is paid to the activities of the Ukrainian branches of the Peasant Land Bank, which were quite effective. Both positive aspects and shortcomings of the implementation of the mortgage lending system in the Ukrainian provinces are identified. It is proved that the mortgage loan became one of the mechanisms for overcoming obstacles that complicated the penetration of capitalist relations into the agriculture of the Dniepr region in the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries. Conclusion. Mortgage credit became one of the ways to circumvent the difficulties that stood in the way of the penetration of capitalist relations into the agriculture of the Dnieper region in the second half of the 19th century. In the first post-reform decades, there was a destruction of estate land ownership, mobilisation of land ownership, and growth of rent and mortgage debt, which ultimately led to the creation of conditions for free competition. The mortgage, which was used to purchase land, allowed delaying the payment of the entire amount for its use in the production sector. But here a contradiction arises: the funds used to purchase land were actually withdrawn from agricultural production. And since land in the Russian Empire was expensive, this led to the withdrawal of significant amounts from the production sector of the village. Mortgage credit and the associated debt of large landowners prompted the development of the process of land mobilization. Mortgages in general have become a natural phenomenon that has done its job, accelerating the capitalist restructuring of agriculture and causing social stratification of the countryside.