Russia’s central bank head, Elvira Nabiullina, has outlined six steps to fight poverty in Russia. The transcript of her remarks in parliament has been published on the Bank of Russia website.
The first step is to control inflation, which primarily affects poor people, she emphasized.
Other efforts she described include protecting Russians from over-indebtedness, combating fraud in the financial market, offering loan repayment holidays and restructuring plans, creating special financial products for low-income clients and delivering financial literacy programs.
“Measures to improve people’s financial literacy and enhance their protection against over-indebtedness will certainly help some safeguard their money, but I believe the best way to fight poverty is to increase the incomes of working Russians,” economist Dmitry Afanasyev says. “However, the Central Bank has practically no influence on this aspect.”
Another important aspect the expert cited is the availability of cheap loans, but the Central Bank is in no position to soften its monetary policy significantly at this stage, as inflationary pressure persists.