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Urban Dwellers’ Expenses Up 40%
The Romir Group presented a new instrument for measuring consumption dynamics last week. Based on household consumption and the pace of growth of consumption, the SCIF (Shopper Centric Information Flow) index is an alternative to Rosstat’s inflation calculation. According to SCIF indexes, Russian urban dwellers’ consumer expenses are up 40 percent since the beginning of the year. That finding is based on 8520 residents (3000 households) in 32 cities, who scanned the barcodes of all groceries and other items they bought for household consumption. SCIF data platforms what items are consumed, where and when they are purchased, what price they are purchased for and whom they are purchased for.
Romir Panels general director Andrey Fedotov explained that SCIF differs from the consumer price index. “It is an integrated indicator that includes the growth of income and inflation,” he said. According to data for August, the “SCIF basket for the Russian urban dweller,” a generalized index of spending changes, grew 10.4 percent over July and 40.7 percent in the first eight months of the year. “The 40-percent growth index shows not only high inflation, but the growth of income that leads to an increase of consumer spending,” Fedotov noted.
The “strata” of expenses for different income groups changed differently in 2007-2008. In households where members’ incomes were up to 8000 rubles per month, expenses grew in August 2008 6.7 percent compared to the previous month, and 33.5 percent compared to August 2007. In households where members’ incomes were between 8000 and 16,000 rubles monthly, those figures were 7.7 and 43.5 percent. In households where members’ incomes were over 16,000 rubles, those figures were 7.4 and 28.2 percent. Those statistics show that the lower incomes groups, whose consumer baskets mainly consist of food, are hit hardest by inflation.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Sep. 29, 2008
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