In the dialogue between the characters, "interest" comes up — a term denoting the rate charged on informal loans in early-1990s Russia. The phrase "ten percent a month" reflects typical lending terms of the period and explains why the character talks about "getting hit for three hundred grand, if there's interest on it" — at such rates, roughly 300% of the original loan amount would accrue over a year.
Russia's financial system in 1993
1993 was one of the hardest periods of Russia's economic transformation. The country was living through an unprecedented financial crisis — hyperinflation reached hundreds of percent annually, completely undermining the ruble's stability and making ordinary bank lending practically impossible.
On June 2, 1993, the Central Bank of Russia raised its refinancing rate to 110% annually (from the previous 100%), in an attempt to fight inflation. Even that rate, however, remained far below the real level of inflation. Experts at the International Monetary Fund recommended that the Central Bank raise the rate to a level comparable with the pace of inflation — as high as 1000% annually.
On Moscow's interbank lending market, interest rates ranged from 200% to 235% annually, and in the regions reached 240% or higher. Yet because of the ruble's constant devaluation, the real return even on such high rates remained negative.
Private lending and "interest"
Under these circumstances, private, informal lending became a common practice. Entrepreneurs, like one of the novel's characters, lent out money at 4–6% a month (equivalent to roughly 60–100% annually). This was considered a relatively moderate rate for the time.
In the criminal sector of the economy, rates were even higher. As mentioned in the source material, criminal groups could put a debtor "on the meter," with an interest rate of around 10% a week, with interest charged on interest. As a result, the annual rate could reach 10,000% or more.
It's important to understand that such "interest" wasn't simply a matter of lenders' greed. Amid economic instability, a weak legal system, and high inflation, lenders faced enormous risks of never getting their money back. High rates were a way of at least partly compensating for those risks.
Methods of debt collection
The novel's character's mention of "getting hit" points to another key feature of the era — problems with debt repayment. Since the formal court system was ineffective, debt collection was often carried out through informal means.
By 1993, an entire category of people had emerged whose business was collecting debts — forerunners of the collection agencies of later years. They often used intimidation and violence to force debtors to pay. According to the recollections of people who lived through those events, debtors could be beaten, kidnapped and held until the debt was paid, have their families threatened, or have their property seized.
Financing business projects
When it came to financing projects like a film shoot (as discussed in the characters' dialogue), the situation was especially difficult. The traditional banking system barely financed long-term, risky ventures at all. Entrepreneurs had to turn to private investors, who typically demanded high interest or a stake in the business.
That is why one character's suggestion — "Let's open up shop, hustle up some cash, and put in our own money" — was a highly pragmatic solution for the time. Self-financing was often the only way to avoid crushing debt obligations.
Note: The terms "soroket" and "sotochka" mentioned in the text are slang for sums of 40,000 and 100,000 US dollars, respectively. In 1993, the dollar was the primary currency for large financial transactions in Russia, owing to the ruble's constant devaluation.