Inflation had accelerated for seven months in a row before December.
Consumer prices inflation unexpectedly slowed in December in Russia. Before December, the country's inflation rate had accelerated for seven months straight.
According to the Russian state statistics service Rosstat, the annual inflation rate in Russia was 7.4 percent in December, while in November it was 7.5 percent. Economists had predicted that inflation would, on the contrary, accelerate in December.
This is reported by the news agency AFP.
Inflation rate is still well above the Russian central bank's four percent target.
Inflation has been a major concern not only for the central bank but also for the Kremlin. The Kremlin is harboring hopes that it could present the state of the economy as strong before the presidential election in March.
Consumer prices have been raised by, among other things, the labor shortage plaguing Russia. The main reason for the labor shortage is the war of aggression started by Russia in February 2022, and the resulting shutdown. Since the start of the war of aggression, hundreds of thousands of people have also fled Russia.
In December, there was an uproar in Russia over eggs. Based on November's statistics, their price had increased by 40 percent from a year ago, and Russia announced that it would remove the import duty on eggs to prevent prices from getting out of hand, AFP says.
President of Russia Vladimir Putin also ended up apologizing for the rising prices on live television.
#economy #Russian #inflation #unexpectedly #slowed #December
