Yuri Katsnelson: "Introduction of grocery cards should be tested in several regions"

The president of the Russian Guild of Bakers and Confectioners stated this at a press conference on the topic “Introduction of grocery cards - what awaits RUSSIA in 2022?”, which was held at the National News Service on January 18. 

The meeting was also attended by Chairman of the Union of Consumers of Russia Petr Shelishch and economist, associate professor of the Department of Political Economy of the Faculty of Economics of Moscow State University named after MV Lomonosov Maxim Chirkov.

The speakers unanimously agreed that if the state cannot restrain the rise in food prices, then the way out is to introduce measures of social support for low-income families. At the same time, food cards in this case should be progressive, and not resemble coupons from the times of the USSR, which were needed only to buy scarce goods.

- In Russia, all products are on the shelves. The social card is about the lack of money from the population for their purchase, - Petr Shelishch specified.

Yuri Katsnelson agreed that Russia has everything for the production of bread: both raw materials and equipment. True, there is a problem with qualified personnel in bakery, which in turn affects low competition. it is worth raising it and it will be easier to regulate the price of bread. After all, with an abundance of offers from bakers, the buyer will go to the one whose quality and price he considers acceptable for himself.

- The idea with grocery cards has been discussed for a long time, but no one understands how to implement it yet. The pilot project should be launched gradually in several regions, for about 2-3 years. Evaluate both final results and intermediate results to look at efficiency, he added. 

The State Duma supported the introduction of food cards 

In Russia, there are several million low-income families with children who will urgently need such assistance. It is planned to transfer a fixed amount to the social card every month (from a thousand rubles per person), for which it will be possible to buy socially significant domestic products in about 25 categories.