“Putin’s” 10,000 rubles are not enough
Pope Carlo had to sell the jacket to get Pinocchio to school. Modern dads and moms often have to go into debt for the same purposes. And this is even despite the fact that the cost of “enrolling a schoolchild” in Russia for the year did not exceed the inflation rate. According to some microfinance organizations (MFIs), the demand for microloans to collect children for school has grown to 80%. And this despite the fact that the state has allocated 10 thousand rubles for each student to help parents.
In August, the number of Russians who applied for microloans in order to equip their children before the start of the school year increased by almost 80%, representatives of the MFO told reporters. Meanwhile, according to the financial marketplace “Unicom 24”, the number of families wishing to obtain loans to prepare a child for the school year fell to a historic low – 3% against last year’s 5%. Why does the data diverge?
It is very possible that borrowers are simply embarrassed by their low solvency and do not voice the real purpose of the loan, says Anna Bodrova, senior analyst at IAC Alpari.
“It is impossible to collect accurate statistics on microloans specifically for school fees. But one thing is clear: the costs of preparing for studies are very high, says Bodrova. – In fact, there is not much difference whether 3% or 13% of families take a microloan to collect a child for school: it is wild that parents have to go into debt to buy uniforms and stationery. This should be more than available in a civilized secular state. “
However, even if we take the most modest estimates of those who applied for “school” microloans, we get half a million Russian families – a whole city!
Let us remind you that this year the authorities helped parents with children with targeted payments. A lump sum of 10 thousand rubles for schoolchildren will receive about 17 million people, said the Minister of Labor and Social Protection Anton Kotyakov. At the same time, it is obvious that this money will not be enough for all the needs of the younger generation. Bodrova emphasizes that getting a child to school is an expensive undertaking, especially now, when non-food inflation is growing and does not stop, and Russians’ incomes have not increased for almost seven years in a row. Only 20% of Russian residents were able to get their children to school, spending 10 thousand rubles – an amount equivalent to a one-time payment from the state. This is stated in the study of the service “Aktion Education”. Analysts found that the majority of parents (79%) spent more money allocated by the state.
Earlier, Rosstat calculated the costs of parents for school enrollment by September 1 and found that school fees for a boy on average in Russia will cost 19 thousand 575 rubles, and girls – 24 thousand 123 rubles.
10 thousand rubles is not such a small amount, says economist Andrei Loboda. According to his calculations, this money may be enough to buy school clothes, decent shoes and small accessories. “From May to September, there were very good discounts on school goods in stores and marketplaces, which went up to 50-70%,” he says. “In our country, credit products in the overdraft format, through which the bank briefly lends funds to the client when the available balance is exceeded, have become an indispensable assistant: you can borrow 20 and 40 thousand rubles from the bank for several months and not pay interest.”
The expert noted that the demand for MFO services can be traced more in the economically depressed regions of Russia, in which the low level of financial literacy of the population coexists with humiliatingly modest salaries – from 20 to 30 thousand rubles.
“This year the state has unexpectedly reached a fabulous surplus budget, so it has become easier to provide financial assistance to the elderly and children. This support comes in handy. But the main reason for poverty in Russia and the growth in demand for MFO services is not the greed of the authorities, but the cynical stinginess of employers: since 2013, after the collapse of the ruble, salaries have practically not been indexed, ”explains Loboda.
It turns out that help from the state arrived in time, but, alas, it could not overnight eliminate the problem of lack of funds for preparing children for school. The communication between Russians and MFIs is becoming closer and closer. And for sure, thousands of Russians who are forced to take out loans in order to make their children look decent on Knowledge Day will end up in debt bondage to microcredit usurers.
See also: Currency paradise of the USSR: Beryozka stores were a Soviet dream
Parents are stocking up with school supplies: preparation for September 1
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Newspaper headline:
Following the example of Pope Carlo
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