Improvement of financial literacy as a crucial factor of economic development

Abstract

Issues on the public financial literacy are highly relevant in the context of expanding opportunities of financial services used, increasing the complexity and the appearance of new financial tools. Ensuring personal financial security is becoming an important factor of economic development and public welfare improvement. Nevertheless, a low level of financial literacy negatively impacts personal welfare and a financial potential of households, deteriorates the resource base of financial institutions, hampers the financial market development, retards investment processes in economics and leads to the aggravation of the socio-economic situation of the country. In this regard, the following tasks have been set in this study. To consider a conceptual characteristic of the notion “financial literacy” and its components – fiscal and taxation literacy; study the contemporary international and Russian practice of financial literacy improvement as a factor for the economic development of a country. The article substantiates the following: the constructive use of the best practices should create real opportunities for raising the level of financial literacy of the population in the Russian Federation, increase confidence in the financial system, reduce the financial risks of consumers of financial services and improve the population’s welfare.