Tatyana Ivakhnenko, Research fellow at the Gaidar Institute's Mathematical Modeling of Economic Processes Department, noted in a comment for RBC that tight monetary policy had a mixed impact on the middle class in Russia. According to her, citizens who have savings and know how to manage them wisely benefited, rather than those who depend on borrowed funds.
"The overall effect, due to the high stratification within the middle class itself, has been rather neutral. Households that combine savings and loans seek to maintain a safety cushion, but at the same time use borrowed resources to maintain their current standard of living: for example, in the context of preferential mortgage programs, it may be advantageous to take out a mortgage and save," emphasized Tatyana Ivakhnenko.
However, unlike Western countries, where the proportion of households combining loans and savings is significantly higher, this figure is lower in Russia. “The relatively low proportion of such middle-class households in Russia indicates the limited availability of financial instruments, as well as a low level of confidence in long-term savings,” the expert concluded.