Annual inflation in Russia slowed to 6.95%

Slowdown according to the Ministry of Economic Development

Annual inflation in Russia as of November 2 stood at 6.95%, down from 7.11% on October 26. These figures are contained in a review of the current price situation by the Ministry of Economic Development for the week, cited by Gazeta.Ru. Thus, the pace of price growth fell by 0.16 percentage points over the week — for now this is weekly dynamics rather than a sign of a sustained reversal, but it shows that the annual figure has stopped accelerating.

What happened to prices over the week

In the food segment, prices overall fell by 0.04%, although the pace of price increases within it slowed to 0.31%; the dynamics of vegetable and fruit prices did not change compared with the previous week. In the non-food goods market, the decline in prices accelerated and reached 0.43%. In the sphere of observed services — tourism, regulated and household services — price decreases also resumed. The mixed picture within the food block (an overall decline while increases persist for individual items) explains why the weekly statistics do not mean a uniform fall in all prices.

Opinions on inflation factors

Financial analyst Mikhail Belyaev, according to Gazeta.Ru's publication, believes that additional government borrowing on the domestic market should not automatically trigger a spike in inflation or a weakening of the ruble. In his words, inflation is influenced not only by monetary factors but also by the situation in markets where individual large players can set prices; he cited the fuel market as an example and noted the role of antitrust measures. Earlier, on October 20, the same outlet reported that in Russia carrots had become cheaper — an example of price declines in an individual food category.