How to get a grocery card and what goods can be purchased with it? Food cards will support not only the poor, but also the rich

The Ministry of Industry and Trade, together with the Ministry of Finance, is finalizing the targeted food assistance program, TASS reports. The launch of the program is planned for this year, said the head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov.

“We really look forward to launching this program this year,” he said.

Currently, the food aid program has already passed the main stages of coordination with departments. The Ministry of Economic Development supported the program, and finalization with the Ministry of Finance is next, Manturov added.

One of the goals of the program, he said, is to provide targeted support to those categories of citizens who cannot afford to purchase a certain set of food products. For example, fresh chilled meat, fresh chilled fish, fresh vegetables.

“To stimulate this opportunity, we came up with the initiative to introduce food subsidies through a system of targeted support. This system works in many countries of the world,” Manturov said.

The minister emphasized that this is not a savings system and it would be more correct if citizens fully spend the allocated funds on products from domestic producers. “If you haven’t spent that money within a month, it’s gone,” he said.

Strategy 2017

The Ministry of Industry and Trade began talking about the Food Aid Strategy back in the fall of 2015. It involves supporting certain categories of citizens by creating a special card.

Launching a food card program for low-income citizens may require 240 billion rubles, said Deputy Head of the Ministry Viktor Evtukhov.

According to him, funding is expected from the federal and regional budgets, the number of potential participants in the program is about 15-16 million people.

The Ministry of Agriculture estimated the costs of the program six times lower - at 40 billion rubles, said the head of the ministry, Alexander Tkachev, in the fall of 2016. He also said that his department is working on creating a mechanism for extra-budgetary financing of the program, since the corresponding funds are not yet available in the budget.

The card for low-income citizens will be an “electronic buyer card” to which funds will be credited. They can be spent on certain types of goods and products, in particular on fresh, perishable, domestically produced goods.

The program currently includes meat, dairy, fish products, vegetables and fruits, eggs and herbs.

Cereals and canned meats are excluded. However, the Ministry of Industry and Trade did not rule out expanding the list; it could include frozen fish and meat products. On imported goods and product benefits will not be distributed.

It was also noted that everyone will be able to participate in the grocery electronic card program outlets, which are connected to the central processing system of the program, the program will be supervised by one of the largest banks in the country.

The program can “ensure budget efficiency of at least 2 rubles. contribution to GDP for every ruble invested in the program,” Evtukhov reported. In addition to helping those in need, the program will support the demand for Russian products food, trade and Agriculture, the ministry plans.

Previously, the Ministry of Industry and Trade expected that the buyer’s electronic food card program could become operational in the second half of 2016.

No money, no program

This program should not be handled by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, but by the Ministry of Labor and social protection, says Sergei Smirnov, head of the Center for Analysis of Social Programs and Risks at the Higher School of Economics Institute. According to the economist, if this program is truly aimed at social support population, then the relevant ministry should deal with it.

“I understand why the Ministry of Industry and Trade wants to implement this program - on the other hand, it is support for domestic producers. But, in my opinion, the domestic manufacturer is not experiencing any particular problems now: imports have decreased, they have reoriented themselves to other countries, and their own production has actually increased,” the expert adds.

If a program is launched, then, according to Smirnov, it should correlate with other programs to support the poor that are being implemented in Russia. “I am bothered by the lack of interaction between the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Labor - this is unreasonable, help may go to those who really do not need it, and those in need may not receive it,” the economist sums up.

The idea of the Ministry of Industry and Trade is reminiscent of the American Food Stamp Program (a program for the preferential purchase of products), when they give limited consumption coupons with which you can buy food, noted Natalya Zubarevich, director of the regional program of the Independent Institute of Social Policy.

What the Ministry of Industry and Trade is proposing “is about supporting industry, not supporting the population,” because the program will force people to buy certain types of products, she said.

“Whether this is good or bad, I don’t know. Whether there should be even more incentive to buy domestic when incomes continue to decline is a big question for me. Poor people don’t have much choice; they don’t buy pesto sauce and other delicacies anyway. To what extent will this support Russian industry, is a mystery to me,” says Zubarevich.

Both experts drew attention to the fact that information about the allocation of budget money for the food supply program has not yet appeared. The Ministry of Finance did not respond to Gazeta.Ru to the corresponding question and other requests about the possible configuration of the program.

If the corresponding expenses were included in the current version of the budget, the Ministry of Industry and Trade would report this at the end of the year, believes Smirnov from the Higher School of Economics. Zubarevich also questioned the sources of funding. “If this is additional money for Russian consumers, then the question is where will the money come from? What's this, additional funds federal budget that does not exist? While there is no answer to this question, there is nothing to discuss,” she concluded.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade also left additional questions about the program and its financing unanswered.

It is assumed that the card will be a plastic “electronic buyer card”. It will be credited monthly with funds in the form of points. Points must be used for groceries within a month; any unspent amount will be expired.

Who can receive such help?

Low-income citizens who cannot afford to buy certain types of products. It is assumed that the right to assistance will need to be documented.

What products can be purchased and for what amount?

Priority will be given to those products that are lacking in the diet: fresh and healthy meat, fish, vegetables, dairy products from domestic producers that differ from cheap substitutes, as well as seeds and seedlings. Previously the Ministry of Industry and Trade reported , What monthly payment may amount to 1400 rubles.

Card systems were used in different countries, including in the USSR and Russia: during the period of “war communism” before the transition to the NEP policy, then at the end of the 20s. The cards established certain standards for the consumption of goods per person per month. Peasants and persons deprived of voting rights ( former nobles, priests and others) did not participate in the distribution. This system lasted until 1935. During the Great Patriotic War the country returned to the card system again.

In 1983, the coupon system was introduced in the USSR. Coupons were issued for some scarce goods, then the list expanded: they began to sell cigarettes, vodka, soap, sugar, salt, sausage and a number of other goods.

The coupon system in Russia began to fade away in the early nineties due to rising prices, inflation (which reduced effective demand) and the spread of free trade (which reduced the deficit). However, coupons for a number of goods remained until 1993.

Is it true that the new card system was invented in the USA?

Valid in the USA federal program assistance to citizens who have no or low incomes. Previously, paper coupons were used for this, which were supplanted plastic cards. Currently, about 43 million people. Average monthly size benefits per person are $126. To receive assistance, households must meet certain criteria, primarily in terms of income.

How many people in Russia need food aid?

Recipients of assistance may be about 15 million people.

According to a review by the Central Bank based on the results of a survey by the InFOM Foundation, half of Russians last year had to give up planned expenses: repairs, vacations, buying furniture, treatment. Every fifth refuses to buy vegetables and fruits, every fourth saves on clothes, and a third of respondents cannot buy sausages, cheeses and fish. According to Levada Center, 58% of citizens save on food. In January, at the Gaidar Forum, Olga Golodets said that Almost 5 million Russians receive wages below the minimum wage (RUB 7.5 thousand).

Will they do anything else for the poor?

It is expected that from 2018, low-income Russians will also be provided with free meals in canteens at various organizations and other catering establishments.

Previously, the Ministry of Finance proposed pay poverty benefits. According to representatives of the department, it is necessary to implement a whole range of measures to support low-income Russians. In addition, the concept of “need” must be clearly established in Russian legislation.

There are no plans to introduce food cards for the poor in 2019, despite repeated proposals to stimulate consumer demand with food stamps and support the poor. This was announced by Arkady Ponomarev, a member of the Duma Committee on Agrarian Issues, at Agroholdings of Russia-2018.

Who is eligible to claim the benefit?

The launch of the food subsidy program was planned first in 2018 and then in 2019. Several years ago, the Ministry of Industry and Trade proposed creating a supplementary nutrition system in Russia for the low-income population. It was proposed that special bank cards of citizens of this category be credited with funds that could be spent on certain domestic products - fresh, perishable. According to Ponomarev, the implementation of this proposal will stimulate domestic demand and the development of processing industries.

Important clarification: the Ministry of Industry and Trade was going to issue food cards only to those citizens who find themselves below the poverty line by choice external circumstances and they can prove it. The state will definitely not support parasites who are able to work but do not want to. Russians who hide their real income and only pretend to be poor - freelancers, entrepreneurs, owners of subsidiary plots - should also not count on help.

If the program is launched in 2020, how can a citizen understand whether he can take part in the food card program? To do this, he needs to make some simple calculations.

Add up all the income his family received over the last 3 months. Benefits, subsidies, scholarships also need to be taken into account.

Divide the resulting amount by 3 to derive the arithmetic mean.

Divide the result by the number of family members (including children and pensioners).

If the final value is below the subsistence level, you can safely apply for a food card for the poor in 2020 (provided that the program is launched).

The Ministry of Industry and Trade does not specify what documents are needed to obtain a food card. It is known that control over the distribution of cards will be the responsibility of social security authorities - a low-income citizen should not have a question about where to get a food card, because he is probably familiar with the address of the local social security department. To apply for a benefit, you will not only have to bring the required papers, but also undergo an interview - a kind of “lice test”. Anyone who receives a food card in Russia will be required to make every effort to find a job (if there is none) in order to avoid the spread of parasitism.

It is expected that the list of citizens entitled to benefits will be reviewed every 6 months. A low-income citizen will have to bring documents confirming his preferential status to social security every six months.

What can you buy?

The holder of a food card, alas, will not be able to purchase with its help any products that catch his eye - he will only have access to those things without which a Russian’s daily diet is impossible to imagine. Exact list available products The Ministry of Industry and Trade will provide it at the launch of the program. The list will include:

Meat and fish.

Eggs and milk.

Salt, sugar, spices.

Vegetables, fruits, dried fruits.

In addition, “social products” include pet food, hygiene products (soap, washing powder etc.), seeds and seedlings.

The benefit will not apply to alcohol and cigarettes. The Ministry of Industry and Trade categorically states that it is not going to support bad habits Russians.

Card holders will also not be able to spend preferential funds on surplus products - say, candy. A low-income citizen who wants to please his child with sweets will have to spend his own money on it. The most controversial position so far is medicines - the Ministry of Industry and Trade has not decided whether to include them in the list of “social products”.

Those Russians who will be issued food cards should pay attention to one more limitation: only Russian products will be able to be paid for with preferential funds. Due to this restriction, the Ministry of Industry and Trade will try to “catch up with the second hare” - namely, to support domestic producers and give them an advantage in competition with importers.

Point payment system - what is it?

Food certificates will be issued in the Mir payment system. The state will not transfer rubles to the cards at all, but bonus points - monthly in an amount equivalent to 1,200 or 1,400 rubles. The holder of a food certificate will have to put up with a number of restrictions.

Points cannot be accumulated. If a low-income citizen does not spend all the bonus rubles by the end of the month, the rest of the amount will be burned.

Points cannot be cashed out. You can pay with bonus rubles only in stores participating in the state program. It is expected that from 2019 the cards will be accepted in some canteens and cafes.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade clarifies that cardholders will be able to deposit personal funds into bonus accounts. Why should low-income citizens top up food cards with “their own hard-earned money”? At least by next reason: the state promises that a citizen will be able to receive from 30% to 50% of the top-up amount monthly - this is a pretty solid profit. That's just what will happen with personal funds at the end of the month and whether they will burn out along with the bonus rubles, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, apparently, has not yet decided.

Experience of the USSR and foreign countries

The distribution of “cards for the poor” is not at all an innovative solution for a crisis economy. We can say that food cards are returning to Russia - a similar system was already in effect in the USSR.

Grocery cards in the USSR appeared along with the USSR itself - in 1917. The coupon payment system was introduced periodically, but this was not at all connected with the widespread poverty of Russians (as it is now), but with constant supply crises. Many of the products in the Soviet Union were considered scarce - they could only be obtained with a special coupon and only in limited quantities (to avoid speculation). The coupon system in the USSR reached its peak in the period 1988 - 1991, when citizens could not purchase either sugar or sunflower oil. Since 1992, food certificates began to disappear due to the spread of free trade.

But the coupon system is by no means a relic of the past. Nowadays, the practice of providing food certificates to low-income citizens is used all over the world, including in developed countries.

In the United States, low-income citizens have been paying for food stamps for 50 years, receiving about $115 per person each month. The Americans consider this system fair and are not going to abandon it.

In Great Britain, the coupon system was introduced after the Second World War due to food shortages. The program was resumed in 2014.

In Cuba, food cards have been issued to the poor for over 50 years, but now the coupon system on Liberty Island is on its way out. It is interesting that cigarettes were excluded from the number of “preferential” goods in Cuba only in 2016.

Food certificates were also introduced in modern Russia– at the regional level. For example, in 2013, 3 thousand food cards were issued for large families in the Kirov region.

Both market experts and ordinary citizens for the most part have a positive attitude towards the idea of reviving the system of food cards in Russia for pensioners and other citizens in need of financial support. This was confirmed by a survey organized by VTsIOM: almost 80% of respondents were in favor. But if the idea of introducing an analogue of the coupon system into the economy is so good, no matter how you look at it, why is the Ministry of Industry and Trade delaying its implementation? The answer to this question is simple: the state cannot yet find enough money to bring the idea to life. According to preliminary estimates, almost 70 billion rubles will be needed - finding such an amount in a country with a crisis economy, alas, is extremely problematic.

The concept of food assistance in the Russian Federation being developed by the government introduces food cards. The Prime Minister of the Russian Federation said that food cards, as one of the types of support for citizens, have both advantages and disadvantages. The main directions of the proposed program are supporting regional agricultural producers and targeted assistance to the socially vulnerable population of the country.

What is food aid

The program is state support, which is aimed at helping certain segments of the population. Assistance will be provided under the guise of a certain set of food products or an amount of money that can be spent on purchasing these products.

Food cards for Russians will make it possible, through market methods, to provide assistance to Russian agricultural producers. With the support of stable demand for their products, there is an opportunity for further improvement. This is also one of the methods of import substitution.

Russia is preparing for the return of food cards

In April 2015, the Government presented a model of a ration card system. They are intended for those citizens who have the right to subsidies from the state. The Ministry of Industry and Trade believes that food cards will support not only socially vulnerable segments of the population, but also the state, mainly regional agricultural production. The decision to introduce food cards into everyday use was formed based on the experience of world powers, where they have been successfully used for a long time.

How food cards work

Despite the fact that the introduction of this innovation is expected in 2017, the concept of food cards is already known:

A family considered socially vulnerable is issued a bank card.
Funds from the budget are credited to it every month.
It will be impossible to withdraw funds; they can only be used to pay in certain stores and for a certain period of time.
The introduction of food cards will apply only to products with a short shelf life. This is planned to eliminate accumulation. This includes foods such as meat, poultry, eggs, milk, vegetables and fruits.
The exact amount of funds transferred to the card is not yet known. The department believes that the amount will depend on the cost of living established in the region, the level of family income, all social deductions, and the food cost ratio.

Conditions for receiving food cards

In order to receive food cards for the poor, you must complete several steps. You will need to submit an application to the executive branch in your region of residence and collect a package necessary documents, pass an interview. If the answer is positive, the applicant is issued an electronic grocery card, which will receive funds. Or you can connect an existing one by signing an agreement with your bank.

To mitigate the risk of dependency, the unemployed will be required to get a job within a specified time frame.

It is likely that Sberbank of the Russian Federation will participate in the implementation of the designated program. The Food Card program will require, at the most preliminary calculation, 240 billion rubles.

Existing realities of life

There is one very serious obstacle to the implementation of the program - the state does not have financial resources. Of course, the program will be implemented entirely by the state. But since in 2015 the country’s budget was adopted with a deficit of 2,680 million rubles, and as of May 1, 2015, the regions’ debt exceeded two trillion. rub., it is difficult to imagine an easy and quick implementation of the food card program.

Existing shortcomings

Despite the absence in the federal budget necessary funds to implement the program, there are several issues that the Ministry of Industry and Trade has not been able to resolve for a long time. Food cards and their implementation imply a clear scheme for choosing producers, which still does not exist. Secondly, there is no clear mechanism for checking the required quality of goods.

Expert opinions

One remains open for experts main question: What is more important for the state - support for local producers or well-fed low-income citizens?

The Chairman of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry for the Development of the Consumer Market believes that the introduction of cards will make changes to the system of supporting manufacturers. In this case, agricultural producers will be able to receive financial resources by increasing demand and stimulating it, and not directly.

Vostrikov Dm. (Rusprodsoyuz) approves food cards. He believes this will help local production better than price regulation.

Krupnov Yu., head of the Supervisory Board of the Institute of Demography and Regional Development, believes that this program is a gift that can stimulate local agricultural producers and the Russian economy. He believes that Russia is preparing for the return of food cards and that this will solve most of the problems associated with food safety on a national scale. The program, in his words, is a giant food order for agricultural producers.

Mamikonyan M., President of the Meat Union, says that in the world this practice of helping the poor represents the strongest support for local producers. But he doubts that in the realities of Russia this support will be insignificant. The President believes that this program is intended for a limited circle of consumers, and the funds allocated monthly will be small; it is unlikely that they will be used to buy meat - a rather expensive product.

Reasons for introducing ration cards

The government assures that this program is in no way related to food shortages. According to them, food cards in Russia and the assistance provided through them will develop for several reasons:

The rules for Russia’s accession to the WTO oblige our country to reduce the amount of direct assistance to agricultural producers under the guise of various grants, subsidies, preferential loans, etc. Along with this, WTO rules may allow support for local agronomists through domestic food assistance during the implementation of the Green Box program.
Today in the country the number of citizens who are entitled to food cards is increasing: these are those below the poverty line and the poor. Over the past 8 years, their number has grown to 21 million people. These are citizens who need government support.

Stages of introducing food aid

According to preliminary data, the launch of the program will begin in 2017. Today, the amount that will be transferred to the card will be 1,400 rubles. monthly. It is expected that products under the program will be available for purchase on separate counters in retail chains. It is unlikely that social stores will be built separately for this program.

The next stage will begin at the beginning of 2018. It consists of opening social canteens where you can get hot meals by presenting the appropriate card.

What does the implementation of the program entail?

The return of ration cards, according to the government, has only the best intentions.

To support local producers, changes have been made to the trade law. These amendments eliminate any fees from suppliers and reduce settlement times. Today, retail chains can delay settlements with small farms for up to one and a half months. In other words, big business gets credit for free at the expense of small business. That is, theoretically, entry into retail chains will be open to local small agricultural producers, the stimulation of which is implied by the program for the introduction of food cards.

Results

The program for introducing food cards implies:

support for local producers;
support for the poor;
improvement of trade.

In 2016, food cards in Russia will be available to:

the majority of pensioners who are below the poverty line, taking into account the average size pensions for 2015;
single mothers;
unemployed citizens;
such ethnic groups, like the peoples of the Far North, Tajiks, Roma.

To receive cards, they need to contact the relevant authorities with an application and a package of documents.

In addition to the introduction of food cards in 2017, in 2018 it is planned to introduce a program for preferential meals, which will provide the opportunity for the poor to receive free lunch in a canteen/cafe.

Most experts in this field believe that food cards are the most important and effective project of the Russian Federation. They will provide an opportunity to support not only local production and consumption, but also the consumer market and the economy as a whole. The most important thing now is that this program for vulnerable citizens goes through without any violations.

Food for the poor will be distributed using coupons

Soon the Russian poor, whose income is below the subsistence level, will receive a new state aid- they will be offered free food cards, with which they can buy the most necessary food - bread, flour and cheap meat. Whether this measure will work in the context of an endless financial crisis and ongoing anti-Russian sanctions is still unclear. Examples from foreign countries, where food cards have existed for several decades, do not allow us to say unequivocally that this will be a panacea for the Russian economy.

Centennial gift

Food cards have a bad reputation in Russia. Our population first learned about their existence in early 1917. During the First World War, there was a shortage of sugar, and the tsarist government introduced cards for refined sugar. Almost immediately the imperial regime ceased to exist. The provisional government picked up the baton. In addition to sugar cards, coupons were introduced for bread and a number of other products, which by that time were in dire shortage.

A few months later, the Provisional Government also disappeared. The Bolsheviks came to power. The Soviet Union, with its chronic shortages, turned out to be a real “promised land” for the development of a rationing system, that is, a limited distribution of resources, primarily food. During the existence of the USSR, cards on different types scarce food was introduced many times.

Sometimes, for example during the Great Patriotic War, this was justified. But even in peacetime, when the situation with the supply of the population with the most ordinary food products was improving, cards and coupons were not always abolished. As a result of 75 years Soviet period The population lived with cards for about 25 years.

The last time coupons were introduced in the USSR for sugar and vodka, which had become scarce goods, was in the early 1990s. After the breakup Soviet Union and the emergence of a country with a market economy on its ruins of modern Russia, they forgot about cards and coupons. As it turned out, not forever. In 2017 - apparently on the centenary of the first sugar coupons - the government announced the imminent introduction of food cards. To begin with, not for everyone, but only for the poor. However, trouble has begun.

The shortage has nothing to do with it

History tends to repeat itself. IN in social networks, and sometimes you can hear absurd speculation directly from federal television channels that the state is launching such a program not by accident. With its help, the government allegedly intends to prepare the population for further tightening of anti-Russian sanctions, natural disasters and even military conflict. Because of this, they say, the shelves of Russian stores risk becoming scarce, and the remaining products risk sharply increasing in price.

Those who believe in such apocalyptic “predictions” can relax. This is not about an impending food shortage. This is evidenced by fresh data from the Eurasian Economic Commission, which predicts active growth for the Russian agricultural industry in 2017–2018, the main points of which will be pig farming and production chicken eggs: according to the first indicator, by 2018 the statistics will triple, and according to the second - 4.2 times.

But even with such food abundance, there are millions of our compatriots who, with their modest incomes, are not able to provide themselves with even the basic products included in the consumer basket. It’s for them that food cards would come in very handy.

The idea of their introduction was first voiced back in 2007 - due to the strong rise in price of milk and dairy products. True, then it was not developed. Firstly, because all excess income received by the state from high prices for hydrocarbons was directed to the Stabilization Fund (a year later, these funds were spent to support not poor people, but the largest banks). Secondly, at that time the government aimed to bring Russia into the World Trade Organization, which would result in the saturation of the market with cheap imported products and a collapse in prices, making food affordable even for the poorest citizens.

Russia joined the WTO in 2012. Only the expected price collapse did not happen. Then it got even worse - oil prices collapsed, the excess income from them ended, but Western sanctions and our retaliatory embargo appeared. Against this backdrop, the idea of returning to food stamps has become relevant again.

The cure for poverty

In 2015, the Ministry of Industry and Trade again voiced the idea of a food card program for low-income citizens, whose meager salaries, pensions and benefits were affected by the sharp collapse of the ruble. Now the Russian economy has passed the difficult stage of the crisis, but the introduction of such a program has not lost its relevance. After all, according to official data, in our country there are now over 19 million citizens living below the poverty line.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, food cards are intended for them, which are planned to be introduced approximately in 2019. Thus, according to statistics, it is planned to transfer up to 13% of the country’s population to coupons, who will receive from the state 1.2–1.4 thousand rubles per person monthly for food.

This program will cost the state annually, according to preliminary calculations, 240 billion rubles. However, people will not receive a penny from this money: the food card will be electronic, points will be awarded on it (and not “drip” rubles), which the consumer will be able to use exclusively for the purchase of certain domestically produced food products. Which ones exactly are still being decided, and it is possible that by 2019 the list of goods currently being considered will be supplemented or reduced.

There is hope that such an initiative will help alleviate the issue of poverty in modern Russia. In any case, according to a spring poll by VTsIOM, 78% of citizens believe that cards are needed, and only 19% do not see the point in them (3% found it difficult to answer). It follows from this that the majority of citizens perceive the government initiative adequately: not as a harbinger of times of famine, but as targeted assistance to those in need.

The current poverty situation in our country is serious social factor, which can negatively affect the future of the entire state. The initiators of the program for renewing the validity of food cards in Russia are obviously trying to prove that our state is social institution and bears responsibility for citizens. In addition, we must not forget that this program aims to support domestic producers and increase consumer demand - to revive retail and acceleration of GDP rates.

The ball is king

The holder of a food certificate will have to put up with a number of restrictions. By the end of the month, the consumer will need to “purchase” the card in order not to lose points. Points not spent during the month will be reset to zero at the end of the month.

However, it is still unclear how the state will, in principle, add points to the card. Apparently, they will be equated to monetary unit. For example, 1 point - 1 ruble. Businesses have similar experience: some large retail chains, restaurants and chain coffee shops everywhere distribute bonus cards to clients that allow them to pay their bills with points, which are converted into rubles when paying for services. But only in certain places and at your own rate.

The food coupon will be a domestic bank card payment system. At first, federal retail chains that have experience with paying for purchases with bonus points will probably become participants in the program. They have a lot at their disposal cash registers and corresponding software. If the project is successful, then small regional retail outlets will first join in, and then small retail enterprises.

Following America's example

To predict how successful this program will be in Russia, it is worth turning to the experience of other countries. Most often, both supporters and opponents of this measure appeal to the experience of the United States, where the Food Stamps system was introduced by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1939 during the Great Depression. Then, when Washington officially entered the Second world war, this program was canceled with a scandal. However, not for long. New food aid came during the presidency of John F. Kennedy in the 1960s. It is still in effect, despite the US economic upswings and crises.

Food cards, which were previously paper stamps, were replaced by bank "plastic" during the Clinton era. On them, each state government transfers a certain amount in points every month. The consumer can use these points to purchase products - and exclusively American-made. As of October 2016, more than 13% of Americans, or 43 million people whose incomes do not exceed the US poverty level, received FoodStamps assistance.

So far, everything is very similar to what the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade has planned. But the “amount in words” differs noticeably - and, alas, not in favor of our poor. A recipient of food assistance in the United States can purchase $126 worth of food each month. In Russian money this is over 7.5 thousand rubles - 6 times Furthermore, what is planned to be given to our poor.

However, the American large-scale government assistance system also has its flaws. Its main drawback is considered to be the massive concealment of their additional income by recipients of FoodStamps assistance. Often this program begins to work to its own detriment - many poor people (especially migrants) simply do not want to work, believing that they will not die of hunger anyway. Often, recipients of FoodStamps in the USA are several generations of migrants (this fully applies to immigrants from the USSR). To combat social dependency, the United States even introduced criminal liability for social assistance recipients for concealing income.

FoodStamps programs have not caught on in Europe. In post-war England and Germany they existed, but not for long. The fact is that in the developed countries of the Old World the standard of living of the population was initially higher than in the USA, and social differentiation was lower. Many retirees and poor families who received food stamps have found it more profitable to sell them on the black market. As a result, not poor shoppers in sable furs and expensive cars began to stop by at stores where they could receive food assistance through FoodStamps. After which Europe chose to curtail such programs.

Driver for growth

In Russia, when implementing a food aid program, it is also worth taking into account negative foreign experience. In any case, although three-quarters of the population, according to opinion polls, approve of the humanitarian goal of the program, more than 40% of respondents are concerned that government assistance may be used inappropriately. For example, some of the poor will probably not miss the chance to exchange their food cards for alcohol. Therefore, it is important for the state to carefully consider protection mechanisms bank cards and be sure to make them personal.

However, the government is still slow to resolve this issue. For what reasons? First of all, financially. After all, we need to find the required 240 billion rubles a year somewhere. For the federal budget, which remains in deficit, such spending still appears to be an unbearable burden. There is a high probability that the state may transfer the implementation of this program to the regions, whose budgets will be able to absorb additional expenses.

At the same time, the economic meaning of food cards lies not only in increasing consumer demand, but also in reducing inflation. Now its annual level is set at 4%. However, if the price of oil turns out to be below the level budgeted ($40 per barrel), then it will not be possible to keep inflation within 4%. Prices will start to rise, which will cause increased demand in dollars, not rubles. This threatens to reduce any assistance expressed in rubles to zero.

However, there are also positive aspects. According to IMF estimates, an increase in consumption of the poorest population of any state by just 1% over 5 years can increase the country's GDP by 0.4%. Russia, therefore, thanks to the food program for the poor, can receive an additional driver for economic growth.