Annual inflation in Russia accelerated to 7.16%

Annual inflation in Russia for the period from November 8 to 13 accelerated to 7.16% from 6.99% in the previous week, reported Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation. In weekly terms, price growth, on the contrary, slowed to 0.23% from 0.42% a week earlier, follows from data Rosstat.

In the food products segment, prices slowed down to 0.42% from 0.47%, while the increase in prices for fruits and vegetables averaged 2.6%. Thus, cucumbers became more expensive by 9.1% (in some regions of the Russian Federation the increase was up to 75%), tomatoes – by 5.7%, cabbage – by 1.1%, and onions – by 0.7%. Chicken eggs increased in price by 3.4%, sausages and butter – by 0.5%, and sausages, cottage cheese, powdered milk mixtures for baby food and buckwheat – by 0.4%.

In the group of non-food products, inflation slowed to 0.07% from 0.63% against the backdrop of a significant (from 3.33% to 0.29%) reduction in the price of passenger cars. Electric vacuum cleaners and women’s tights rose in price by 0.4%, shampoos and edged boards – by 0.3%. At the same time, smartphones fell in price by 0.5%, and gasoline by 0.1%.

In the segment of regulated, tourist and personal services, prices, on the contrary, accelerated growth to 0.21% after 0.06% a week earlier. Thus, tourism services became more expensive by 1.65% against the backdrop of an increase in the cost of domestic flights by 3.79%.

On October 27, the Board of Directors of the Bank of Russia raised the key rate for the fourth time in a row – by 2 percentage points to 15%. In its release, the Central Bank explained the need to tighten monetary policy by the fact that current inflation pressure has increased significantly and is exceeding the regulator’s expectations. At the same time, the Central Bank updated its forecast for annual inflation. Now the regulator expects inflation in the range of 7-7.5% (last year it was 6-7%) for this year. In 2024 it will drop to 4–4.5% and will remain close to 4% in the future.

On November 9, the head of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, Elvira Nabiullina, said that by the end of the year the key rate could be raised, since the Bank of Russia intends to maintain tight monetary policy for several more quarters to return inflation to 4%.

As Rosstat previously reported, in Russia, based on October results, annual inflation in October accelerated to 6.69% after 6% in September. In monthly terms, inflation accelerated to 0.83%, a month earlier the figure was 0.87%.