. last year, we revealed 168 ponzi schemes, which is 25 % more than the year before. we are working together with law enforcement agencies, including regional authorities. it is law enforcement agencies that bear responsibility for putting an end to the activity of such illegal entities. illegal lenders pose the greatest threat to the public. under the guise of microfinance organisations ( that is why microfinance organisations often face criticism ), they offer loans which are sometimes secured against housing, and afterwards demand that borrowers repay enormous amounts of money. illegal lenders usually operate via the internet and we must stop their activity. therefore, we ask you to authorise the central bank to promptly block websites advertising illegal financial operations, among other things. we have already forwarded the respective bill to the state duma and look forward to your support. in order to reduce the chances of the public getting trapped by illegal lenders, since last year, we have been working together with yandex on a joint project aimed at labelling websites of legal trustworthy microfinance organisations registered with the central bank with special symbols. we are discussing similar projects with other search engines. development of the mir card currently, as many as 59 million cards have been issued ; the share of the mir card has been growing both in issue volumes and cashless operations. countrywide, people use cards on a daily basis ; in more than half of russian regions, transport cards, and in some regions, also 4 / 7 bis central bankers'speeches social cards are attached to the mir card. we hope this trend will continue. mir cards are accepted in member states of the eurasian economic union and turkey ( last year we told you we were conducting negotiations ). in the near future, we are planning to ensure that these cards are accepted in non - cis countries popular with russian tourists, and to expand their acceptance in cis countries. the development of cashless payments is not restricted to the use of mir cards. last year, we completed the development of the bank of russia ’ s special project, faster payments system ( fps ), which we launched early this year. as many as 14 banks have already joined the system, and 114 more have applied. our estimates suggest that early next year, 250 banks will have joined the system. at the later stages, only small banks with a basic licence, which need more time to introduce changes, will join. according to our estimates, the introduction of the faster payments system will reduce fees

risk. moreover, it is premature at this stage to make a precise estimate for the ultimate impact of the vat increase on prices and inflation expectations. at the present time, producers and retailers are essentially compromising part of their margins to ensure customer retention. the muted 2 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches demand and competition for market share both work to prevent them quickly passing the tax change on to higher prices. this is why they proceed on a piecemeal basis, each time they are able to do so. moreover, there are still stocks built up before the vat hike. as contracts are renewed, goods taxable at the new rate will come into the market. taking into account these factors, we do not rule out that the vat change pass - through to prices could be protracted. having said this, our baseline scenario suggests that the vat pass - through to consumer prices is mostly complete. as regards the main changes to our medium - term forecast, beginning from today, it will be published as part of the key rate press release. you have had the opportunity to read it. the principal change in the forecast is a downward revision of inflation projections for this year. furthermore, we have refined the average level of oil prices for this year based on their actual movements at the start of the year. the baseline scenario has been revised upwards from $ 55 to $ 60 a barrel ; the high oil price scenario has been revised downwards from $ 75 to $ 70. our oil price forecast for 2020 – 2021 remains unchanged. these adjustments have made no major impact on expected economic growth indicators in the context of the operating fiscal rule. finalised data suggest gdp growth was 2. 3 % last year, above our expectations. our estimates suggest that the accomplishment of major investment projects emerged as key enablers of this growth. with due regard for this, we, first, reconfirm our assessment of the nature of economic growth : the economy is close to its potential ; its expansion does not create additional proinflationary pressure. second, we keep our gdp growth estimate in the baseline scenario at 1. 2 - 1. 7 % for this year. the growth rates will accelerate to 1. 8 - 2. 3 % in 2020 and 2 - 3 % in 2021 as the positive effect of national projects and structural reforms provided that these deliver. the oil price adjustments in the forecast carry implications for balance of payments indicators. in the baseline scenario, the forecast current account balance for this year has