MOSCOW -- City Hall is issuing credit cards to more than two million of the capital's poorest citizens, according to a report in the Moscow Times.
Pensioners, disabled and others legally entitled to benefits from the city government will begin receiving Visa cards on April 1.
The distribution is the first step in the city government's new, so-called social card system. By mid-2003, city officials say all 2.5 million people entitled to the card -- which combines the functions of a photo identification, travel pass, proof of medical insurance and ATM/Visa card -- will have them.
Moscow Metro Chief Dmitry Gayev said the new system will save the city, which spends nearly $500 million each year on social benefits, millions of dollars and cut down losses from fraud.
"Fifteen percent of all metro passes (that let pensioners ride free) are fake," Gayev told the Times. "The Moscow metro will earn an extra $12 million a year by avoiding unscrupulous users of privileges."
The project will also give the city-owned Bank of Moscow, which is handling all the financial flows, a huge boost as it tries to break the retail deposit monopoly of federally owned Sberbank.
Pensions account for 60 percent of all private accounts held by Sberbank, according to the State Statistics Committee.
