Moscow – Russian inflation, on Wednesday is expected to keep slowing down in the first months of 2020, the country’s central bank said in a monthly analytical review.
“The Bank of Russia predicts a further decline in annual inflation in early 2020, including due to the exhaustion of the effect of the value-added tax (VAT), increase in 2019.
“Given the current monetary policy, annual inflation will be in the range of 3.5-4.0 percent in the full year of 2020 and will remain close to 4 percent further on,” it said.
According to Russia’s official statistics service (Rosstat), the inflation rate in Russia slowed down to 3 per cent in 2019.
The central bank noted that it was due to disinflationary factors, such as an increased food supply, ruble appreciation, and weak demand.
In 2018, inflation in Russia jumped to 4.3 per cent from a record low of 2.5 per cent in 2017, after VAT increased to 20 per cent from 18 per cent.
This, the bank said, resulted in rising prices of certain goods, and the weakening of the ruble.
(Xinhua/NAN)
