Russia's Statistics Committee chief Vladimir Sokolin informs not only the government but the population at large about weekly growth in prices.
Photo: Grigoriy Sobchenko
| Other Photos |
 |
|
 |
Statistics Authority Is at Inflation Heels
Russia’s Statistics Committee resumed the weekly release of data on growth in consumer prices for the first time from 2002. The inflation was 13 percent in annual terms as of March 24, 2008. The weekly monitoring was ordered by the government, as the situation with the price growth “remains very tense,” people in Statistics Committee explained.
Russia’s Statistics Committee dropped the practice of inflation weekly releases in August of 2002; the annual inflation was 15.1 percent that year. According to official statistics promulgated yesterday, consumer prices stepped up 0.3 percent from March 18 through 24 and grew 0.9 percent from early this month (the inflation was 0.4 percent as of March 24, 2007). The weekly inflation is calculated in view of narrower basket of services and goods (70 vs. 400 used to compile monthly figures), so it may differ from the monthly result.
Judging by weekly monitoring, consumer prices surged 4.4 percent from early this year to March 24 (vs. 3.3 percent a year earlier). The daily average growth in prices also shows acceleration. It reached 0.038 percent this month vs. 0.019 percent in March of 2007. Taken in annual indicators, the prices climbed more than 13 percent from the start of 2008.
Economic Development Ministry raised the upper ceiling of its inflation forecast from 8.5 percent to 9.5 percent for 2008. Vice Premier, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin officially backed up such adjustment yesterday. “We take their evaluation as a basis. In general, some uncertainty on the capital market creates a big bracket,” Kudrin said.
Economic analysts were skeptical about official outlook far back in late February, forecasting the annual growth of 12 percent to 13 percent. What’s more, if the government traditionally blames the inflation on accelerated surge in prices for energy and foodstuffs, the analysts give weaker budget policy as the key factor.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Mar. 27, 2008
|
|
|
