14 Dec 2010 10:56

Rising global food prices carries inflation risks for Russia in 2011 - CB

MOSCOW. Dec 14 (Interfax) - Increasing global food prices could be threat to meeting the inflation forecast for Russia next year, the Central Bank's director for operations on financial markets, Sergei Shvetsov, said at a conference on REPO transactions.

Shvetsov said that the high inflation rate this year had been driven by price shocks on the part of the foodstuff market owing to drought and rising world prices. The price increase was the result of reviving demand as the economic crisis came to a close.

He said that the harvest forecast for the southern hemisphere for this winter is generally low. Therefore, prices could remain high, which would, in turn, create risks for meeting the inflation forecast for next year.