In the last three years, household debthas risen by a third as disposable income declined.Declining interest rates, ease of access to credit forconsumers and poorly regulated microfinance lendingpractices led to fast growth in consumer debt. Consumerlending in the banking and microfinance segments has beengrowing in double digits in 2017-2018, reaching a total ofRUB 14,90 trillion (USD 230,8 million), or 14 percent of theRussian GDP. At the same time, real disposable income hasbeen declining: as of 2018, it is 13 percent below 2014levels. Accelerated consumer lending has been monitored bythe Central Bank of Russia to adjust the supply side ofconsumer finance, but no in-depth assessment has been madeon how this has been affecting households. To provide ademand-side assessment, the World Bank Group in cooperationwith the Russian Consumer Protection Service(Rospotrebnadzor) and the International Confederation ofConsumer Societies (CONFOP) conducted an over-indebtednessstudy in 2018-2019. The objective of the study was to take adeeper look at the increasing levels of indebtedness of`individuals in Russia, provide a demand-side view on theissue and assess potential social and economic implications.The results of the study afford a unique perspective on theissue of consumer over-indebtedness in Russia and provideRussian financial-sector regulator and consumer-protectionauthorities with additional context for reviewing andadjusting their existing policies in the area of consumerprotection, responsible lending and related areas. The studywas conducted in a form of a survey covering over 4,000individuals in 16 Russian regions.
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