JRL NEWSWATCH: “Relentless rise of consumer debt in Russia fuels bubble fears for some” – Reuters/ Darya Korsunskaya, Elena Fabrichnaya, Tatiana Voronova

“… After five years of shrinking real incomes, many Russians are borrowing to make ends meet or even just to pay off their creditors – and the issue is climbing up the political agenda. … Some 2.5 million people earning up to 20,000 roubles ($303.09) a month … less than half the average wage, spend more than half of that on loan repayments, the National Association of Professional Collection Agencies estimates. … [T]he problem [is a sensitive one] for Putin, whose popularity ratings have slipped …. Moscow is in the grip of protests over the exclusion of opposition candidates from a local election and sporadic protests over issues ranging from waste disposal to unwanted construction have flared elsewhere. …”

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