FOM: 61% of Russians said that price growth has accelerated in the last month

Almost two-thirds (61%) of Russians felt an acceleration in price growth for basic products, goods and services in the last month, follows from the results survey Foundation “Public Opinion” (FOM).

The survey was conducted from September 29 to October 1 in 104 settlements of 53 constituent entities of the Russian Federation, and 1,500 people took part in it.

The indicator has been growing since June, when 42% of respondents noted an increase in prices. By September their share had increased to 56%. At the same time, 22% of respondents believe that prices have slowed down, and 4% estimate that prices have been growing in the last month at the same rate as before. 5% noted a slowdown in price growth. Among the respondents, no one, like a month ago, observed a decrease in prices.

The Russians surveyed noted, in particular, an increase in prices for gasoline (49%), meat and poultry (47%), medicines (30%), fish and seafood (26%), bread and dairy products (25% each), and housing and communal services ( 22%).

32% (in September – 34%) of survey participants believe that prices in the coming month will rise faster than before, and 42% (in September – 43%) expect the current rate of price growth to continue.

Annual inflation in Russia from September 26 to October 2 slowed down to 0.21% after 0.28%, prices have risen by 0.06% since the beginning of October, Rosstat reported earlier this week. The price increase since the beginning of 2023 was 4.54%.

According to Rosstat, last week the largest increase in prices among basic products occurred in chicken eggs – by 3.2%. Prices for chicken meat increased by 1%, for lamb, sausages, sausages – by 0.5%, for sunflower oil and margarine – by 0.6%. Rosstat also recorded a decrease in fuel prices. In particular, the price for motor gasoline decreased by 0.4%, and for diesel fuel – by 0.1%.

At a government meeting dedicated to budget priorities for 2024-2026, Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov gave a forecast according to which inflation growth will slow down to 4.5% by the end of 2024, and will reach 4% in 2025.

On September 15, the Central Bank raised the key rate by 1 percentage point to 13%. This is the third consecutive rate increase in a month and a half: first, the Central Bank raised the rate at a meeting on July 21 by 1 percentage point to 8.5%, and then unscheduledly increased the rate on August 15 immediately to 12%. At a press conference, Central Bank Chairman Elvira Nabiullina noted that the sharp movement of the exchange rate in itself was not a risk to financial stability, but it caused an additional increase in inflation and inflation expectations.