MOSCOW, August 21. /TASS/. A recent poll revealed that 68% of Russians prefer to keep their personal savings in the national currency. The poll was conducted by leading polling firm Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM). The results were published on VCIOM’s website.

"For the majority of Russians, the national currency remains the preferred way of storing ‘available’ money: in July 2023, 68% of respondents said they keep their savings in rubles, while another 6% prefer the dollar and 4% prefer the euro and other foreign currencies," the study says.

About a quarter of Russians (27%) reported a lack of savings, according to the survey data.

Although the percentage of foreign currency in circulation among individuals has declined, July saw revived interest in the situation on foreign exchange markets.

"Fifty-eight percent of our fellow citizens [reported] keeping track of the dollar exchange rate at varying levels of frequency (+7 p.p. over June data), including one in five who did so regularly (20%), and 38% who did so from time to time. However, the proportion of those interested in this topic is now below the figures for the first half of 2022 - in February-July of last year - when 63-66% [of Russians polled] followed fluctuations in the forex market."

"In July 2023, 42% of respondents were not interested in the dollar exchange rate, and every second (49%) [reported similar sentiments] a month earlier," the study stated.

The nationwide VCIOM-Sputnik telephone survey was conducted on July 29, 2023, among 1,600 citizens aged 18 years and older.