Weekly deflation in Russia accelerated to 0.13%

Consumer prices in Russia for the week from August 9 to 15 continued to decline, falling by 0.13% after falling by 0.08% a week earlier, follows from data Rosstat.

Since the beginning of August, deflation has amounted to 0.33%, since January of this year, consumer prices have increased by 10.72%. In annual terms, inflation (according to data Minek) slowed down to 14.87% after 15.01% a week earlier.

In the food segment, prices for millet (1.1%), buckwheat (0.7%), rice and table salt (0.5%) decreased over the week. At the same time, prices for granulated sugar (0.7%), canned meat for children and vermicelli increased by 0.3%.

Among fruit and vegetable products, prices for cucumbers (6.4%), beets (6%), potatoes (5.4%), carrots (5.3%), etc., fell the most. On average, prices in this segment fell by 3. 5%.

In the category of medicines for the reporting period, prices slightly increased: analgin – by 0.6%, rengalin and levomekol – by 0.4%, ergoferon – by 0.3%. Cheaper – Corvalol (0.3%) and Validol (0.2%).

In the category of non-food essentials, prices for toothpaste (by 0.3%) and matches (0.2%) went up; in the consumer goods segment, prices for vacuum cleaners rose by 2.1%; 0.1%. The cost of economy class tickets decreased by 3.6%, the fare in a city bus on average in Russia rose by 0.5%, and by tram – by 0.4%.

The Board of Directors of the Bank of Russia at a meeting on July 22 unexpectedly lowered the key rate by 150 basis points at once – to 8% per annum. The Central Bank explained this decision by saying that the current growth rates of consumer prices remain low, contributing to a further slowdown in annual inflation, which is due both to the influence of a set of one-off factors and to the restrained dynamics of consumer demand.

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