Russia not to have more than 7%-inflation in 2011 - Putin
MOSCOW. Oct 21 (Interfax) - Russia will not have more than 7%-inflation this year, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said during a video conference call with regional United Russia party headquarters.
Consumer price growth so far this year is 4.8%.
The government will continue to make efforts to curb inflation, Putin said. "We will move even further in this direction. We will also do so at the federal level, but much will depend on the organization of markets on a regional level. This is especially true for the food basket, and here, of course, United Russia must take on the organization of all this work," Putin said.
United Russia can carry out real work in the regions to curb monopolies and develop competition, Putin said.
The government has decided to restrict tariff growth of natural monopolies next year. An exception was made for Gazprom , whose tariff growth should not exceed 15% from June 1, 2012, as well as for OJSC Russian Railways (RZD), whose tariffs could increase starting on January 1, 2012, Putin said.
However, there still remains the big challenge of utility tariff growth in the regions. "And in this, United Russia's major role could be to de-monopolize the market at regional level, so that various offices and firms, which implement this work on the ground and at a regional level, would not enjoy excessive - to put it mildly - support of local authorities, and would work in a competitive field. That is very important, and it is in that - that real work, where United Russia can have its say and must do so," Putin said.