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Russian Industry Sets Price Record
The slower pace of the Russian producer price growth (6 percent over January) noted in Rosstat statistics for February released yesterday will not rectify the long-term trend. Industrial inflation in Russia in recent months remains extremely high compared to the growth of consumer prices. Rosstat, the state statistics service, published data on producer price indexes for the “New Year's season” (November 2007 – January 2008) in the world's largest economies.
Russian industry ushered in the new year with a new record. The average price change for those three months was the highest in the countries reviewed by Rosstat. The Russia producer price index exceeded that of economically-troubled Hungary and was much higher than that of Brazil. The volatility of the Russian index is comparatively low, however. In the Rosstat review were countries in which the producer price index fell in December. Those were the United States (-0.3%) and Finland (-0.3%).
Consumer inflation in a number of the countries whose average industrial price change Russia exceeded, such as Poland and Ukraine, was as high as in Russia or higher. Practically all the countries experienced increasing inflationary pressure, but inflation in industry was highest in Russia, in spite of the strengthening ruble, and problems with crediting arose in industry in the autumn of 2007. In a number of countries, the local currency fell against the dollar or remained stable. Of course, the exceptionally high inflation in Russian industry is largely due to oil prices. Nonetheless, the raw materials component is also important. The continuing cycle of high industrial inflation, exceeding consumer inflation for many months, distinguished Russia from a number of the other countries.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Mar. 25, 2008
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Photo: Èâàí Ãðàíêèí
