Poor people will be allowed to open profitable deposits of up to 50 thousand rubles: “The idea is unrealizable”

People just don’t have money

The State Duma in the first reading approved a bill allowing citizens with low incomes to open a social bank deposit up to 50 thousand rubles. The Central Bank has been toying with this idea since 2021. Finally, it takes on real shape. Let us recall that according to Rosstat, in the first quarter of this year there were 19.6 million people in the country with incomes below the poverty line. Now they are asked to share these same “incomes below the line” with the banks.

According to the document approved by legislators, no more than one deposit will be available to low-income individuals at an increased interest rate of no less than the key rate of the Central Bank plus one percent on top. The social bank deposit agreement will be concluded for a period of no more than a year with the possibility of its extension for a similar period if the citizen remains a recipient of social support measures. Banks will not be able to refuse to register social deposits and accounts for Russians with confirmed low incomes, the bill notes.

The document contains careful definitions. “Citizens with low incomes”, “poor Russians”, “difficult life situation”… And this is probably correct.

Who is a rich-poor man? With the first, everything is clear: a Mercedes, a yacht, a tidy offshore account. But with a poor man… In common people, this is a person who can barely make it to his salary, or even has to go into debt to do so. In general, every penny counts. And if this is so, then where can he get 50 thousand rubles to put in a social bank account and even for many months? For him, fifty thousand is a fortune! Well, if a person still collects enough money to take it not to a store, not to a pharmacy, but to a bank, then what kind of poor person is he?

Of course, the authors of the idea of ​​social contribution wanted the best – to support the poor with a high percentage. But the declared interest rate is unlikely to seriously help them increase their capital. The output is only a few thousand rubles, which are unlikely to save anyone from poverty? And the key rate will not forever be as high as it is now – 15%; sooner or later it will begin to decline. This means that income on deposits will also fall.

– Where will the average Russian poor person get 50 thousand rubles for a bank deposit? – we ask financial analyst, candidate of economic sciences Mikhail Belyaev.

“Let’s assume that he will take it, but from what sources is no longer our business,” he replies. – We always talk about pensioners, old people who are on the verge of survival. And how many cases do we know: scammers stole 300 thousand rubles from one grandmother, a million from another… Let us ask ourselves: how much income will he receive from this amount?

– The key rate of the Central Bank plus one percent on social contribution – how much is that in total?

– For good measure, let’s take 16% of 50 thousand rubles. In a year you get 8 thousand rubles, very little money, you won’t get rich with it. I remember the old English proverb: you get nothing for nothing, but one penny gets very little. Our monetary authorities are trying to come up with something to support the poor. But, as we see, the result is meager.

Then, who will pay the “extra plan” one percent? A commercial bank develops its policy on loans and deposits. Based on his own capabilities, he sets the rate. You can’t force him to pay more. If he has an interest rate of, say, 12%, then he will not pay 15%. Who will pay the additional 3%?

– Obviously, the budget?

– Yes, there are few options here. But our budget is deficit. You need to look for either additional sources of income or cut other budget expenditures. Based on this, I believe that at the current stage the idea of ​​social contribution is practically impossible to implement.