Nearly two-thirds of all Russians (63%) choose the ruble as their preferred savings currency, according to a survey by the state-owned pollster, the Russian Public Opinion Research Centre (VTsIOM). That is up from July 2015 when 53% of respondents chose the Russian currency for accumulating savings.

The dollar and the euro were chosen by 5% and 3% of respondents (7% and 5% in July 2015), and other currencies made up 1% of the total. In July 2015, 41% of respondents said that they do not have savings. That has fallen to a third of respondents (33%) who reported that they do not have savings, Vedomosti reported.

During the worst of the collapse of the currency at the end of 2014 and early months of 2015 Russia’s transferred large amount of savings into foreign currency-denominated accounts to protect the value of nest eggs. The population has been ravaged many times in the last two years by exchange rate collapses and are particularly savvy when it comes to forex dynamics. However, the move back into rubles testifies to the solidity the ruble has and is also a savings vehicle for other countries in the region.

The propensity for saving has risen as the hoi polloi remain cautious about their prospects as the economic recovery has only just got under way in the last few months. Consumers are still preferring to save over spend or borrow, but the first green shoots of rising consumption are appearing: car sales, for example, have been growing for the first time in two years over the last three months.

According to the survey, 19% of respondents regularly monitored the change in the exchange rate of the US currency, while 42% followed it from time to time (13% and 32% respectively in July 2015).