12 May 2023 19:00

Russia had 0.38% inflation in April, annual figure slowed to 2.3% in month, to nearly 2.2% by May 10

MOSCOW. May 12 (Interfax) - Inflation in Russia was 0.38% in April compared to 0.37% in March, 0.46% in February and 0.84% in January 2023, the State Statistics Service (Rosstat) said.

Consumer prices rose 2.06% in January-April.

Inflation in April 2023 was roughly in line with the 0.4% that analysts predicted in a consensus forecast for Interfax.

According to Rosstat data, annual inflation slowed to 2.31% in April 2023 - the analysts forecast 2.3% - from 3.51% at the end of March, 10.99% in February, 11.77% at the end of January and 11.94% at the end of December. The April figure was the lowest since February 2020.

Core or underlying inflation was 100.31% in April. On an annualized basis, the core price index fell to 101.99% in April from 103.72% in March.

Food prices rose 0.29% in April and fell 0.01% in annual terms, with fruit and vegetables averaging up 1.61% and falling 7.61%, respectively.

Non-foods goods went up 0.15% in April and fell 0.26% in annual terms.

Service charges rose 0.79% in April and 9.43% in annual terms.

Prices in April compared with March rose for granulated sugar by 2.1%, for pork except boneless meat, live and chilled fish - 1.5%, mutton, boneless pork, whole frozen fish - 1.1%, canned tomatoes - 1.0%, fruit juices - 0.9% and chicken and rice - 0.8%.

They fell for buckwheat - 2.6%, chicken eggs - 1.5%, vermicelli pasta - 1.3%, frozen whole shrimps and sterilized milk - 1.2% and pasta made from premium wheat flour - 1.1%.

Prices rose for onions - 22.6%, cabbage - 22.5%, pears - 8.2%, grapes - 5.4%, lemons - 5.0% and bananas - 4.4%, but fell for tomatoes - 4.4%, oranges - 3.1%, cucumbers - 2.4% and potatoes - 2.3%.

Gasoline prices rose 0.1% in April and gas vehicle fuel went up 2.1%, but diesel fuel fell 0.2%.

Prices fell for televisions - 2.7% and refrigerators - 2.1%.

The increase service charges was driven by higher passenger transport fares, which rose 2.9% in the month and 11.3% in annual terms, and foreign tourism - 2.5% and 33.7%.

Rosstat also said Russia had 0.0% inflation for the period May 3-10, compared with 0.19% for the period April 25-May 2, 0.10% for the week April 18-24, 0.04% for April 11-17, 0.11% for April 4-10 and 0.13% for March 28-April 3.

There was 0.05% growth for the first 10 days of May and 211% growth since the start of the year.

It follows from data for the first 10 days of May this and last year that annual inflation in Russia had slowed to 2.23% as of May 10, based on weekly prices, from 2.31% at the end of April; and to 2.32%, based on average daily data for the whole of May 2022 - the Russian Economic Development Ministry started calculating annual inflation this way in February this year.

Inflation was only 0.12% for the month of May 2022 so the annual inflation trend could change and this could start to accelerate in the second half of May 2023.

Fruit and vegetable prices fell 1.2% in the period May 3-10, falling for cucumbers - 10.4% and tomatoes - by 5.2%, but rising for cabbages - 18.0% and carrots - 5.6%.

They rose for mutton - 1.8%, chicken - 1.1%, granulated sugar - 0.8% and vermicelli - 0.5%, but fell for chicken eggs - 1.7% and buckwheat - 0.9%.

Prices fell for televisions - 1.1% and trainers for adults - 0.5%.

Economy class air fares rose 1.0% over the past week compared with 0.2% growth in the previous week.