Inflation in Russia again 0.1% in week, annual still 5.3%
MOSCOW. March 20 (Interfax) - Russia had 0.1% inflation for the week of March 12-18, the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) said.
Inflation was 0.1% for the eighth straight week.
It was 1.7% in the first 18 days of March.
Average daily price growth in the first 18 days of March 2019 was 0.015% compared to 0.008% in the same period of 2018. On this basis, annualized inflation was 5.3% on March 18, as on March 11, compared with 5.2% (5.22% before rounding) at the end of February.
Consumer prices rose 1.7% in the year to date.
Inflation has stabilized at the fairly customary level of 0.1% for the winter period, suggesting that price movement has normalized. Russia had 0.2% inflation for two weeks in the middle of January and prices grew 0.5% in the period January 1-9, a long week due to the New Year and Christmas holidays in Russia. The price growth at the start of the year was expected and was stoked by the VAT hike from 18% to 20%, higher public transport fares and the first wave of indexation of utility charges.
Last week, prices grew for mutton - 3.5%, millet - 1.9%, wheat flour - 0.6% and buckwheat - 0.5%.
Prices fell for chicken eggs - 0.7%, chicken - 0.3% and granulated sugar and sunflower oil - 0.2%.
Fruit and vegetables averaged up 0.6%, including cabbage - 12.8%, onion - 4.8% and carrots - 1.8%, while there were price drops for cucumbers - 0.7% and tomatoes - 1.3%.
Prices for gasoline and diesel fell 0.1%.
The Economic Development Ministry is forecasting 0.3%-0.4% inflation for March after 0.4% in February and 1% in January, which corresponds to annualized inflation of 5.2-5.4% for March.