* C.bank chief Ignatyev approved for third and last term
* New interest rate cuts possible in July
* Bad loans growth is easing
(Adds details, background)
By Dmitry Sergeyev and Oksana Kobzena
MOSCOW, June 24 (Reuters) - Russia's central bank may cut interest rates again as early as next month, chairman Sergei Ignatyev said on Wednesday after winning a third and final term in the job.
"We may take a decision to cut rates in July ... I have very good expectations regarding inflation," Ignatyev said after being approved by the lower house of parliament, the Duma.
The central bank last cut its key refinancing rate by 50 basis points to 11.50 percent in early June. [ID:nRURATES]
Ignatyev, under whom Russia has accumulated the world's third largest foreign currency reserves, told the Duma he saw a transition to an inflation-targeting regime and an eventual free float of the rouble as his main goals during his final term.
Russian central bank governors are limited to three, four-year terms.
Ignatyev has repeatedly said that bad loans and stagnation on credit markets were his main tasks in the mid-term. However, on Wednesday he said the problem of non-performing loans might be getting less acute.
"Overdue loans of corporates rose 9 percent in May. That is significantly lower than in previous months ... It does not look like bad loans would exceed 12 percent (of the total loan portfolio of the banking sector) this year," Ignatyev said.
The share of bad loans rose to 4.38 percent of all loans to corporate borrowers in May and to 5.47 percent to individuals.
Ignatyev, who was nominated for a third term by President Dmitry Medvedev, received full backing from the pro-Kremlin United Russia faction, which controls the Duma. The three opposition factions, including communists, opposed his candidacy.
The vote made Ignatyev, who has steered the Bank of Russia since 2002, the longest-serving central bank head in Russia's recent history. Before the vote the opposition blamed him for inflation, Russia's credit crunch and devaluation of the rouble.
Ignatyev, a 61-year old technocrat and a former deputy to Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, has kept a relatively low public profile during his two terms with most policy statements coming from his first deputy Alexei Ulyukayev.
Ignatyev said the central bank would not like to cut interest rates by larger steps than 50 basis points because it might be then forced to raise them quickly in the future.
He also said the rouble had little chance of weakening, given current macro-economic fundamentals such as strong oil. (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev, Writing by Gleb Bryanski and Dmitry Zhdannikov; editing by David Stamp)