MOSCOW, October 3. /TASS/. The majority of Russians (88%) do not want to have accounts in foreign banks, while 80% do not want to keep foreign currency in cash, according to a survey by the Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM), published on Monday.
"The majority of Russians admitted that they would like to have neither an account in a foreign bank (88%) nor cash currency (80%), even if they had such opportunities. <…> Their interest in foreign currency drops with age: if among 24-year-olds 21% would like to buy it, which is one in five, among older Russians this percentage shrank by 3.5 times, to 6%. The situation is similar with foreign bank accounts: 22% of 24-year-olds would open one, whereas among Russians over 60, only 2% would do the same," the statement says.
The poll also revealed that the number of Russians willing to entrust their savings to banks has decreased from 53% in 2017 to 34% in 2022. The share of those who think they need to withdraw money from banks decreased from 46% in 2020 to 35% in 2022.
"As for the currency to keep savings in, if they had to choose between the ruble and foreign currency, the majority of our fellow citizens opt for the domestic currency - 64%, while 8% name the dollar, and 3% name the euro. It also turned out that the yuan is more attractive than the dollar and the euro for Russians (10%)," the poll shows.
"Another common strategy is to keep savings not in foreign currency, but in alternative assets - real estate, metals, stocks, etc. According to the study, 44% would prefer this strategy," the study says.
According to the poll, approximately half of respondents (47%) would prefer to keep some of their savings in the bank, and some at home. Since 2010, the popularity of this option has grown by 1.5 times, at that time 31% of Russians spoke for such an approach.
"More than a third of Russians indicated that a special military operation and Western sanctions did not have a significant impact on their savings (39%). Every fifth person admitted that in the context of these events the amount of his savings decreased (21%), while 5% of our fellow citizens were able to increase their capital. In total, today, 53% of those who had savings before the start of the special military operation and the introduction of Western sanctions still have savings. The majority of those who have savings noted that they did not change the structure of their savings in any way after the beginning of the special military operation (78%). [Of those who were interviewed] 6% said they had bought dollars and euros or started saving in rubles, while 5% sold currency during this time," the poll says.
The VTsIOM-Online All-Russian Internet poll was held on September 2, surveying 1,600 Russians over the age of 18. The maximum margin of error with a 95% probability of error did not exceed 2.5%.