At a session of the G20 on Sept. 5, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov announced that Russia will implement courses on financial education in the school curriculum as a part of a national strategy to increase financial literacy.
“We have prepared a national strategy on financial education that will increase people’s literacy in financial services,” Siluanov said, adding that the lack of knowledge about financial services was partly to blame for the 2008 global financial crisis.
Siluanov also said that a recently survey of Russian citizens showed that only 37 percent of respondents understood the importance of saving, and that most Russians do not save at all.
The minister also unveiled a report on global financial literacy prepared together with the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The report presents a unified view of international practices for increasing financial literacy.
According to the report, even in developed countries, citizens often lack basic knowledge about financial services. In France, eight out of 10 people know the basics of investing, while in the Netherlands, only seven out of 10 have such knowledge.
“We are in the sixth year of crisis. And it’s mainly because people in the United States had been offered financial products that sounded too attractive…people don’t have enough financial education, even in the U.S. to understand if they could deal with the product or not,” said OECD Secretary General Angel Gurría at the session.
Gurría said that the report, among others, focuses on providing financial education to women, as the most active consumers, and to young people.
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