The war in Ukraine and sanctions continue to “eat up” the savings of Russians: every fifth (21%) announced a reduction in savings, says in a survey of the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM). At the same time, 43% admitted that they had no money left for a “rainy day”.

39% noted that foreign policy events did not have a significant impact on their “capsule”, 5% were able to increase their capital. The fact that “there was no savings and no”, said 34% of respondents.

Citizens aged 25-34 suffered the most – among them, more than a third of their savings will be lost (34%). At the age of 35–44 there are 27% of such people. In both groups, the proportion of respondents without savings is the same – 28%. Among Russians over 60 years of age, 12% complained about the reduction in savings, but 44% of those surveyed of this age did not initially have them.

The reduction in savings affected men to a greater extent (26% versus 17% among women); Russians with higher education (27%); residents of Moscow and St. Petersburg (30%) and active Internet users (32%).

Wealthy Russians are less affected by the crisis. Among family members with a good income, only 8% said they lost part of their savings. In the group with average incomes, there are 22% of such people, with low ones – already 33%.

In the end of August reportedthat almost 40% of Russians have nothing to save from their salaries, since the money they earn is completely spent on current needs. The situation worsened in connection with the mobilization announced in Russia. People ran to withdraw money from bank accounts, including to spend it on relocation. For 10 days, the volume of cash in circulation (outside the Central Bank) exceeded 620 billion rubles. The demand for “cash” was close to the record in history: the average outflow reached 62 billion rubles a day.

Russians of working age are leaving the country out of fear of ending up in a war in Ukraine. By data Bloomberg, the shortage of labor will negatively affect the already small savings and incomes of citizens. The agency notes that the decision of Russian President Vladimir Putin has accelerated the “brain drain”, as it is mostly wealthy and educated people who leave. In addition, mobilization can deprive many families of the main breadwinner, leaving them without a livelihood.

According to Renaissance Capital economist Sofya Donets, Putin’s decision will lead to a strong shock to consumer sentiment: Russians will begin to refuse unnecessary purchases, this will result in a collapse in demand, which will increase the decline in GDP. According to the expert, mmobilization will exacerbate the decline of the Russian economy by an additional 0.5% by the end of the year.

In addition to the decline in GDP, inflation is expected to accelerate – and the consequences of mobilization will affect the economy over the next 5 years, Bloomberg Economics economist Alexander Isakov believes: “Growing defense spending and the growth of the public sector will have structural effects that will reduce the potential [годовой] growth to about 0.5%.