The dwellers of Moscow Region like to keep their savings in foreign currency, while the rest of Russian citizens keep them in rubles: this is the conclusion the recent survey conducted by Bashkirov & Partners comes to.

According to the survey, people who tend to keep their savings in foreign currency mainly live in Moscow (11%) and other large cities (15%); some of them are top executives who feel they make a lot of money (19%). At the same time, 43% of ‘average’ Russians invest their money in ruble deposits. This figure exceeds the results for 2005 by 7%.

The survey analysts report Russian people tend to increasingly think of the ruble as a stable currency, with the share of those who open ruble deposits in a bank going up by 9.3% (from 24.5% to 33.8%) between 2005 and 2007. Remarkably, the ruble is appreciated by all social strata alike.

The better part of those who make any personal savings are people aged 30 to 39 (48.5%), respondents who believe their income is higher than average (55%), and people with higher education (46%). As far as nonworkers are concerned, these are largely retirees (36.5%) who make any savings at all.

‘The fact that the number of bank depositors tends to go up on a yearly basis means that both people’s incomes grow higher and their financial literacy is improving. Quite a lot of working people have a ruble deposit in a bank nowadays. They probably understand that keeping one’s money in a bank is both profitable and safe,’ says SKB-Bank’s Deposit Operations Director Denis Belogurov.