Russia's AvtoVAZ says bulk of state loans spent

* Has spent 24.32 bln roubles from the 25 billion roubles

* Repaid 20.19 bln roubles of debts to suppliers

* May need more state support to pay the rest

By Gleb Stolyarov

MOSCOW, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Russian carmaker AvtoVAZ (AVAZ.MM), partly owned by Renault (RENA.PA), said it has spent nearly all the 33 billion roubles ($1 billion) in emergency loans it got from the state, mainly to settle debts to suppliers.

Russia's car market grew rapidly until last October when the global economic crisis started biting into consumer finance and spending, which resulted in AvtoVAZ seeing a 6 percent drop in the number of cars sold last year.

Since then AvtoVAZ has seen sales fall further as unemployment rises and incomes fall and has had to shut down its main production plant for August, triggering workers' protests.

In March Prime Minister Vladimir Putin Putin ordered 25 billion roubles in state funds to be disbursed to AvtoVAZ and asked state banks to provide bridging loans of another 8 billion roubles. [ID:nLU451313]

In a statement on Wednesday, AvtoVAZ said it had spent 24.3 billion roubles out of the 25 billion rouble loan, having repaid the 8.04 billion rouble bridge loan, 14.02 billion roubles to suppliers and the rest as wages, taxes and loans.

It has also spent 6.17 billion roubles from the bridge loan to settle accounts with suppliers, 1.63 billion roubles to pay wages and 0.2 billion roubles to pay taxes.

It said the state loans allowed it to see overdue debts fall 75 percent, while the amount it owes suppliers fell by over 85 percent.

VTB Capital analyst Yelena Sakhnova said it would be difficult for AvtoVAZ, which owed 28 billion roubles to suppliers as of March 31, to pay out the remainder without state support.

"Despite a certain revival in July, demand for the Lada remains very low," Sakhnova said.

Sales of AvtoVAZ's Lada brand fell 42 percent year-on-year in July to 32,426 cars.

Total car sales in Russia fell 58 percent last month compared with the same period a year ago, a slightly worse showing than the 56 percent slump seen in June, according to data from the Association of European Businesses (AEB).

The backbone of Russia's rescue package for the auto industry has been a subsidy offered to banks for lowering the price of car loans.

The most recent proposed measure suggests any owner of a 10-year-old car could exchange it for a voucher worth the equivalent of 50,000 roubles which can be used to finance the purchase of a new Russian-made vehicle, business newspaper Vedomosti said on Wednesday.

The paper said the measure could fuel demand for the least expensive cars, and AvtoVAZ's Lada is the top contender. ($1=31.74 roubles) (Writing by Maria Kiselyova; Editing by Greg Mahlich)