ST PETERSBURG, July 3 (Reuters) - German Gref, the head of Russia's largest lender Sberbank, said on Wednesday he expected a significant cooling of lending growth in the second half of this year.

High lending growth, widespread labour shortages and strong consumer demand have all contributed to stubbornly high inflation, which many analysts polled by Reuters believe will lead to a 200-basis-point rate hike to 18% later this month.

Gref, speaking on the sidelines of a financial forum in St Petersburg, said the rate of growth in mortgage loans would ease in July as preferential mortgage programmes wind down. (Reporting by Elena Fabrichnaya; Writing by Alexander Marrow Editing by Andrew Osborn)