Russia’s Inflation Headache Intensifies as PM Blasts Corporate ‘Greed’ for Price Hikes
Mikhail Mishustin attacked companies for profiteering, driving Russia’s inflation rate to a five-year high.
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has attacked businesses for pushing inflation upward through profiteering and threatened retaliatory measures from the government if firms do not stop increasing prices.
In an address to lawmakers Wednesday, Mishustin said corporate “greed” was behind the inflation surge which has seen Russia’s Central Bank forced to hike interest rates, put the Kremlin on edge ahead of this fall’s parliamentary elections and threatened to undermine Russia’s economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.
“It is important to note one reason why prices are rising is greed. The greed of individual producers and retail chains,” Mishustin said to applause from parliamentarians.
“I want to remind them that the government has enough instruments to curb the appetites of those who are seeking to profit from the hype,” he added.
The comments were the latest escalation in the government's efforts to publicly address rising prices as inflation in Russia runs close to its highest level since 2016, putting increasing pressure on Russians’ wallets.
For months the government has sought to tame rising food prices by installing export quotas, capping prices and haranguing producers to bring down costs in choreographed televised meetings between government officials and industry leaders.
But inflation has proved stubborn and — worryingly for lawmakers who have eyes on elections to the State Duma in September — is now being seen across a host of consumer products, not just food.
Overall inflation ticked down to 5.5% in annual terms in April, Russia’s federal statistics agency Rosstat said last week. But “core inflation” — a measure which strips out the most volatile prices and is used by policymakers and central banks as a more reliable indicator of price fluctuations over the medium- and longer-term — continued to rise. Prices for non-food goods — a broad category covering things like gas, clothes, furniture, cars and tobacco — are up 6.2% over the last 12 months.
Source
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has attacked businesses for pushing inflation upward through profiteering and threatened retaliatory measures from the government if firms do not stop increasing prices.
In an address to lawmakers Wednesday, Mishustin said corporate “greed” was behind the inflation surge which has seen Russia’s Central Bank forced to hike interest rates, put the Kremlin on edge ahead of this fall’s parliamentary elections and threatened to undermine Russia’s economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.
“It is important to note one reason why prices are rising is greed. The greed of individual producers and retail chains,” Mishustin said to applause from parliamentarians.
“I want to remind them that the government has enough instruments to curb the appetites of those who are seeking to profit from the hype,” he added.
The comments were the latest escalation in the government's efforts to publicly address rising prices as inflation in Russia runs close to its highest level since 2016, putting increasing pressure on Russians’ wallets.
For months the government has sought to tame rising food prices by installing export quotas, capping prices and haranguing producers to bring down costs in choreographed televised meetings between government officials and industry leaders.
But inflation has proved stubborn and — worryingly for lawmakers who have eyes on elections to the State Duma in September — is now being seen across a host of consumer products, not just food.
Overall inflation ticked down to 5.5% in annual terms in April, Russia’s federal statistics agency Rosstat said last week. But “core inflation” — a measure which strips out the most volatile prices and is used by policymakers and central banks as a more reliable indicator of price fluctuations over the medium- and longer-term — continued to rise. Prices for non-food goods — a broad category covering things like gas, clothes, furniture, cars and tobacco — are up 6.2% over the last 12 months.
Source