When and to whom will food cards be issued? Legislative regulation of the issue. Point payment system - what is it?

The Ministry of Industry and Trade carried out preliminary calculations of the program of targeted food assistance to low-income citizens. It will be approximately 10 thousand rubles. per year per person, Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov told reporters during the events of Russian Retail Week.

“There are preliminary calculations that we carried out with our colleagues; for the year it is somewhere around 10 thousand rubles,” Manturov said.

Earlier, the minister noted that a program of targeted assistance to the population through food certificates, which will be credited monthly to the Mir card, could be launched in the second half of 2018.

The minister explained that “the whole principle of the program is monthly accrual using these funds for one month.”

That is, the program participant will receive approximately 850 rubles on the card every month, which they can spend only on the purchase of food and only during the calendar month.

After this period, the remaining funds under the program are burned out, and the amount for the next month is credited to the card. “This will motivate people to spend money on food products,” the head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade is confident.

There is no unequivocal support for Manturov’s proposal in the financial and economic bloc of the government, a government official told Gazeta.Ru. First of all, I don’t like the fact that the issue with existing benefits is not being resolved and new small benefits are being added to each individual address card proposed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade for issue.

A possible solution could be to abolish all benefits by category of citizens and replace them with a single poverty benefit. “But politically no one is ready for this,” says Gazeta.Ru’s interlocutor.

Therefore, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Economic Development agree to discuss the introduction of one benefit per card and some freezing of the indexation of existing benefits by category. The introduction of a new benefit must be sufficiently significant in cost for recipients. Moreover, the criterion of need should be determined not by the income of one person, but by the household. Because poverty is generated precisely in families where the salaries of one family member may be low, but do not meet the criterion of need. But for this we need a normally functioning register of citizens and their civil status, which is currently being created by the Federal Tax Service on the basis of registry offices. It can take up to three years to create the registry. After this, it will be possible to introduce a single card based on the Mir payment system with restrictions on the purposes of use.

Therefore, the issue of benefits can also be resolved during the discussion of fixed pension payments.

Amount 10 thousand rubles. per year approximately corresponds to the amount of social support that is used in some regions, points out Doctor of Economics Sergei Smirnov. For example, in the Kirov and Ulyanovsk regions, according to the expert, it is approximately 1 thousand rubles. per month.

“People would be happy with any amount in a crisis,” says Smirnov. He doubts that pensioners will be included in this program, since pensions cannot be below the subsistence level. Most likely, this measure is aimed primarily at supporting families with children, the expert notes.

Even 10 thousand rubles. per person per year is better than nothing, says Elena Avraamova from the Institute of Social Analysis and Forecasting of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Public Administration.

“This is absolutely not a way to lift these people out of poverty - it requires significantly more funds, but nevertheless, for those people who are below the poverty line today, it is good,” she said.

Earlier, Evgeniy Gontmakher, chief researcher at the Center for Comparative Socio-Economic and Political Research at IMEMO, noted that the introduction of food certificates is not the most important measure of social support and “is not a measure that helps to escape poverty.”

The Ministry of Industry and Trade believes that socially vulnerable categories of citizens will receive a certain amount of money from the federal budget on a special card - a food certificate of the Mir payment system.

It will be possible to buy a wide range of Russian food products, except alcohol, chips, cigarettes, soda, etc. According to the plans of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, it will be possible to buy products at any retail outlet that is equipped with a system for accepting bank cards, and even at markets and fairs. In the same way, any Russian manufacturer will be able to declare the products they produce to participate in this program.

“In other words, we will not limit the consumer in any way in the choice of goods and retail outlets where he wants to buy products,” the department assured.

The program is being developed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade together with the Ministry of Economic Development, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Labor, the Ministry of Health, the Central Bank and other departments.

Earlier, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Viktor Yevtukhov stated that launching a food certificate program for low-income citizens may require 240 billion rubles; later the deputy minister called the figure 300 billion rubles.

According to him, it is assumed that funding will come from the federal and regional budgets; the number of potential participants in the program will be about 15-16 million people.

The targeted food aid program is unlikely to be adopted in the near future, Smirnov believes.

“There is no money for its implementation, and besides, the logistics are not very clear: how will the Ministry of Industry and Trade identify those who need help, according to what criteria?” - the expert is perplexed.

Avraamova, on the contrary, is confident that the necessary conditions for launching the program have been created. “I don’t quite understand the reasons that are holding her back,” she said. Of course, the program should have restrictions against abuse, but this practice has been developed around the world, the expert added.

The food assistance strategy was developed in the fall of 2015. The Ministry of Industry and Trade has repeatedly pushed back the timing of its launch and avoided discussing sources of funding. In May, the department announced that it had resolved this issue with the Ministry of Finance.

Grocery cards for the poor will come into use in 2018 – you can be 99% sure of this. The idea of ​​their distribution was proposed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade for implementation back in the year, but now the head of the ministry D. Manturov speaks of the appearance of food cards as a fait accompli. The government was prompted to introduce such a social program for low-income citizens by the unfavorable economic situation in the country.

Who is eligible to claim the benefit?

The statistics collected by the Ministry of Social Protection in 2018 are terrifying: 22 million people (!) are below the poverty line in Russia, out of a total population of 147 million people! At the same time, the Ministry of Social Protection clarifies that it counted only those people who submitted the appropriate documents, recognizing themselves as low-income - in fact, the figure may turn out to be much more impressive. 15% of the Russian population (every seventh) count the coins in their wallet, trying to scrape together enough for a loaf of bread.

It is for low-income citizens that Russia is introducing food cards. Those who will be able to receive a food card include people with a monthly income not exceeding the subsistence level. The cost of living varies depending on the region - for example, in Moscow its size is 15,307 rubles.

Important clarification: The Ministry of Industry and Trade is going to issue food cards only to those citizens who find themselves below the poverty line due to external circumstances and 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.

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 2018.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade has not yet specified 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 benefits, 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. The Ministry of Industry and Trade promises to present an exact list of available products very soon - it is now known for certain that it will include:

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 the bad habits of 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 they should be included 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 2018 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 money? If only for the following 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. The Ministry of Industry and Trade, apparently, has not yet decided what will happen to personal funds at the end of the month and whether they will burn out along with the bonus rubles.

Experience of the USSR and foreign countries

Distributing cards to 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 dying. It is interesting that cigarettes were excluded from the list of preferential goods in Cuba only in 2018.

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.

Don't let the name "food cards" scare you. No, we are not in a deep crisis, like during the war, but the fact of their implementation will help citizens who are classified as low-income. In this way, the state hopes to provide support to domestic producers and somewhat reduce the level of inflation.

A similar innovation is planned for next year, and its main goal will be to save our state from a social collapse. This article will discuss who is entitled to and how to obtain food cards for the poor in 2019.

How will food cards be implemented?

This government program, designed to provide actual assistance to low-income Russians, is provided in the form of targeted assistance, but not in the form of monetary support, but in the provision of essential goods. Its main goal will be to perform two important functions at once, one of which is to help those who are especially hard-pressed today, and the second is to provide support to domestic producers providing consumer goods.

In addition, in this way the state expects to lower the inflation threshold. This will become possible after the need for “real” money decreases. Based on the proposed program, low-income citizens living in the Russian Federation will receive special cards for use.

They will be executed in a similar way to bank cards, with monthly accruals in the form of points, that is, money in electronic form, with their help you can actually shop at a grocery store, as well as for purchasing essential goods, but only made in Russia.

A grocery card can actually be used to pay for the purchase of the following goods:

• dairy and fermented milk products;
• cereals and pasta;
• seasonal fruits and vegetables;
• meat and fish products;
• chicken eggs.

Points spent during a month will not be added up at the end, and at some point they will simply be reset to zero.

Who is entitled to it, how to get food cards

Food cards will be provided to low-income categories of citizens in the near future.

To receive them, you will need proof that your family really needs help from the state and that your monthly income is below the minimum subsistence level established in your region of residence.

For this purpose, some calculations should be made:

• all official income received by each family member is summed up for a three-month period (pensions, scholarships, salaries, etc. are taken into account);
• the resulting number is divided by three, thus obtaining the average family income per month;
• after this, the value is divided by the number of all members of a given family (both young children and pensioners are taken into account).

The number of citizens in need of such state support includes the following persons:

• people with the status of low-income citizens;
• families with three or more dependent children;
• mothers raising children alone;
• unemployed people officially registered at the labor exchange.

So far, the exact mechanism of the process of obtaining this type of assistance is not entirely clear. One thing is certain: food cards will be issued only after a person receives official confirmation of his low-income status. The documents that must be provided in this case include collected certificates confirming the level of income of a particular family. You also need a handwritten application. All this data should be provided to the authorities providing social protection of the population at the place of actual residence.

A food card is used in a similar way to a bank card, the only difference being that it will not be possible to withdraw funds from it.

According to statistical information, more than 15% of Russian citizens have the right to obtain low-income status, that is, families whose average earnings are below the subsistence level. Based on such figures and in an effort to improve the standard of living of the population, the Government is implementing social programs of additional assistance. In particular, food packages will be provided for the poor, which include an extensive list of food products.

Legislative regulation of the issue

It has been planned to introduce such privileges for more than three years. But given that the practical implementation of new ideas requires favorable financial soil, food cards have not yet been issued. Therefore, in 2019, a social card for low-income citizens may become operational, giving the right to receive food for free or with significant discounts.

Table No. 1 “Legal regulation of the issue”

After the adoption of a federal law, local regulations begin to be developed regulating the rules for the implementation of social policy within the subject of the Federation.

As for the timing of the provision of assistance, it is already known when food cards for the poor will be introduced. The implementation of the program will begin in the middle of the current calendar year. But full-fledged activity in this area is expected only from the beginning of 2019. According to the adopted legal acts, the following principles for the implementation of social policy in this area are established:

• production of individual cards with points, the number of which corresponds to 10,000 rubles;
• points will be awarded monthly in equal amounts;
• all funds not spent within a calendar month are canceled on the first day of the following month;
• You can pay with points in the supermarket;
• functions for debiting or transferring funds are not available - only purchasing through a payment terminal;
• the card is valid for one year and the amount on it is not replenished;
• It is allowed to independently replenish the card with cash, providing 40% bonuses from the deposited funds.

Main concepts

Such cards will not be issued to the entire population. To apply for privileges, it is important to prove your unsatisfactory financial situation. It is also necessary to take into account other conditions for the implementation of the program.

Table No. 2 “Main concepts of the food benefit program”

Important! A coupon does not always guarantee free products. Discounts and promotions are available for certain categories of food items.

Who is eligible for the benefit?

According to the approved documents, the following categories of the population have the right to receive benefits:

• low-income people (married couples or individuals);
• citizens who have received preferential status “” (assigned by social protection authorities if three or more children are dependent on the parents);
• unemployed citizens (the person is required to register with the employment service);
• (a woman who raises children on her own if the father was deprived of paternity or renounced his rights in court).

In addition to the presence of these circumstances, you will have to confirm your earnings, for which:

• calculate the income of the family (relatives who live together and run a joint household, including parents, spouses and children, grandparents, aunts and uncles) for the past three months;
• divide the amount received among all family members (even those who do not work).

As for the types of income taken into account, these include: wages, interest on bank deposits, scholarships, remuneration for intellectual work, payments under a commercial real estate lease agreement, alimony, etc.

List of products that can be purchased

On this moment The list of available products is still being compiled and has not been finalized. But the following rules are already known:

• All food products recommended for the daily human diet will be included in the accounting;
• the benefit cannot be spent on alcohol and smoking products;
• Only domestic goods will be on the list;
• it is possible to purchase personal hygiene products, but only those made in Russia;
• there is a chance that specialty pet foods will be included in the list.

The final list of the food basket will be available by the beginning of summer, immediately before the start of implementation of this program.

The procedure for issuing food cards for the poor

The amount of bonus points is not universal, but will depend on the region of provision, so you can initiate the issuance of food stamps for low-income citizens in 2019 only at your place of registration. To do this you need to follow these steps.

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 government support that 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:

1. A family considered socially vulnerable is issued a bank card.
2. Funds from the budget are credited to it every month.
3. It will be impossible to withdraw funds; they can only be used to pay in certain stores and for a certain period of time.
4. 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.
5. 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, collect a package of necessary documents, and undergo 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 lack of the necessary funds in the federal budget 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

For experts, one main question remains open: 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:

1. 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.
2. 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 pension for 2015;
• single mothers;
• unemployed citizens;
• such ethnic groups as 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.