OREANDA-NEWS. June 23, 2010. The New Economic School (NES) and Citi announced the release of the training manual for high school students. The book will be distributed in the schools of Rostov-on-Don, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg, Volgograd, and Samara at the beginning of the new academic year. More than 5 000 university students and 3 000 school children across five large Russian cities will study financial literacy from these new books, reported the press-centre of Citi.

The launch of the new book took place at the XIV annual Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum. It was presented by Vikram Pandit, CEO of Citigroup, Sergey Guriev, Rector of the New Economic School, and Zdenek Turek, President of ZAO Citibank. Don Callahan, Chief Administrative Officer, Global Operations and Technology Head of Citigroup also attended the event.

The new book Financial Literacy for High School Students in a popular and interesting form teaches how to make money, how to spend the money wisely, and how financial instruments (cards, certificates of deposit, and loans) may help. The book targets students of the 9th-11th grades.

This is the second book of Financial Literacy series. The first book was published in 2009, and targeted college students and a broad audience of readers. The first book covered both simple topics (loans, CDs, fundamentals of financial planning), as well as more complex financial products and services - securities, mutual funds, insurance, public pension insurance, investment principles etc.

Vikram Pandit, CEO of Citigroup, said: "Increasing financial literacy is one of Citi's key priorities around the world. Personal financial planning and knowledge of the basic financial products and services is the foundation for personal prosperity and healthy economic development of Russia in general. The new textbook has combined the international experience in financial literacy and Russian practices. NES has done a lot of work on this book and we are glad that Citi was a partner in such an important and unique project."

Sergey Guriev, Rector of the New Economic School, said: "It is a great honor for us to collaborate with Citi in promoting financial literacy. The recent global financial crisis has demonstrated that low levels of financial literacy may lead to drastic consequences not only for the ordinary people, but also for the global economy. That is why we at NES consider promotion of financial literacy a key priority. Jointly with Citi, we have already published a book Financial Literacy for College Students. Today we present a new book Financial Literacy for High School Students. It is never too early to start learning how the world is built."

The Financial Literacy program started in the autumn of 2009 in the major cities of Russia. It started with a study into the level of financial literacy amongst young people; followed by a special course on financial education that was developed and introduced at 5 universities. About 30 faculty members from the universities of Rostov-on-Don, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg, Volgograd, and Samara were trained by NES experts.