Vladimir Putin called for the elimination of manual price regulation in Russia

The government should exclude manual price regulation by ensuring the availability of goods on the consumer market. President Vladimir Putin said this during a meeting with members of the government on measures of socio-economic support for the regions. According to the HEAD of state, price stabilization should be facilitated by an increase in supply.

“The most important task is to ensure the availability of goods on the consumer market <…>. it is necessary to quickly solve logistical and other objective problems that lead to price surges,” Putin said. One of the ways to saturate the market can be the supply of previously exported goods to RUSSIA, the president believes. “In situations where there are difficulties with deliveries to foreign markets, it is necessary not to reduce production, but, on the contrary, to send additional volumes of goods to the domestic market,” the head of state said. In his opinion, this should objectively lead to lower prices within the country. In addition, Putin asked the government, the Federal Antimonopoly Service and regional authorities to constantly monitor the situation in the markets for goods supplied abroad.

“The Russian economy will definitely adapt to new realities. <...> Of course, they will require deep structural changes in our economy, and, I will not hide, they will not be easy, they will lead to an increase in inflation and unemployment. In this situation, our task is to minimize such risks, not only to strictly fulfill all the social obligations of the state, but also to launch new, more effective mechanisms to support citizens and their incomes,” Putin stressed. 

The President also said that over the past three weeks, additional consumer demand has exceeded 1 trillion rubles, but manufacturers have made efforts to avoid shortages and coped with difficult conditions. “The second wave of sanctions was intended to provoke a panic in the trade sector. <...> But domestic manufacturers, suppliers, transport and logistics companies have done everything to avoid large-scale shortages in retail chains,” the president said.

Rosstat: Weekly inflation in Russia slowed to 2.09%

Meanwhile, inflation in Russia for the period from March 5 to March 11 amounted to 2.09%, follows from Rosstat data. A week earlier, it was at the level of 2.22%. Since the beginning of March, consumer prices have risen by 3.38%, and by 5.62% since the beginning of the year. Among food products, SUGAR became the leader in terms of price increase, the average retail prices for which rose by 12.8%. Prices for fruits and vegetables increased by 4.8%, including prices for tomatoes rose by 12.3%, bananas - by 11.3%, carrots - by 3.4%, cabbage - by 2.8%, apples - by 2 .6%, onions - by 2.3%, potatoes - by 1.9%, beets - by 1.6%. At the same time, prices for cucumbers fell by 1.2%. The cost of buckwheat and rice increased by 2.7%, millet - by 2.2%, pasta - by 2%.