5 Oct 2017 17:32

Russia had 0.1% deflation for Sept, annual inflation down to 3% - Rosstat

MOSCOW. Oct 5 (Interfax) - Russia had 0.1% deflation for the month of September after consumer prices fell by a record 0.5% in August, the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) said.

Inflation was 0.1% in July, 0.6% in June, 0.4% in May, 0.3% in April, 0.1% in March, 0.2% in February and 0.6% in January.

Consumer prices grew 1.7% in January-September.

Inflation in annual terms slowed to 3% in September from 3.3% in August and remained well below the Central Bank's 4% target.

Deflation in September was 0.1%-0.7% in 55 constituent members of the Russian Federation except autonomous districts that are part of regions, as food prices fell 0.2%-2.0%. The biggest drops in prices for goods and services were 0.7% in the Astrakhan and Tyumen regions.

Consumer prices rose 0.1% or more in 13 constituent members of the Russian Federation except autonomous districts that are part of regions, including in the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, by 0.7%, as a result of 2.0% growth in service charges.

Inflation was zero for the month and 2.8% since the start of the year in the City of Moscow. St. Petersburg had 0.1% deflation in August and 3.0% inflation for 8M.

The consumer basket of staple foods in Russia as a whole fell 2.9% in September and rose 1.1% in January-September to 3,729.1 rubles per person per month.

In the City of Moscow, the basket fell 3.3% in price in September to 4,540.9 rubles and rose 2.0% since the start of the year, while in St. Petersburg it fell 2.6% and rose 3.0% to 4,583.9 rubles.

The September deflation in the country as a whole was again driven by lower fruit and vegetable prices. In September, as in the previous two months, prices fell for a third of all fruit and vegetables, notably for onion, by 21.7%, potatoes - 18.9%, carrots - 18.4% and cabbage, beetroot, grapes and apples - 7.8%-16.6%, however they rose for lemons - 4.6%, bananas- 4.3%, cucumbers - 1.3% and oranges - 0.5%.

Buckwheat prices fell 3.7% and peas and beans - 1.0%, but rice and millet went up 0.3%.

Live and chilled fish went down 1.1% in price but prices grew 0.7%-1.7% for chilled and frozen filleted salmon, Russian salmon caviar, canned fish national cheeses and bryndza, and canned baby-food vegetables, and 0.4%-0.5% for frozen fish except herring, canned natural fish with added oil, milk, jam, honey, ice cream, cereal flakes and black tea.

Analysts told Interfax in a consensus forecast that they expected zero inflation for September. They slashed their inflation forecast for the year given the recent deflation, to 3.7% from 4.1%, and lowered their 2018 forecast to 4.1% from 4.3%.

The Economic Development Ministry thinks inflation for 2017 will be 3.2% and the Central Bank is forecasting 3.5%-3.8%.