Cbank: Inflationary expectations close to historic low in September

MOSCOW, Oct 2 (PRIME) -- Russians’ inflationary expectations for the next 12 months increased only by 0.1 percentage point on the month and reached 9.6% in September, still close to a record low figure of 9.5% in August, the central bank said in a research note on Monday citing data of a poll held by the Infom agency.

The central bank’s estimates of inflationary expectations made on the basis of quality questions on the increase of prices next year, contracted to 2.8% in September from 3.2% in August mainly due to an increase of responses that prices in the next 12 months will grow slower than before or will not change at all.

“The favorable pricing dynamics and the absence of a jump in prices at markets of some goods and services led to a decrease of responses that noted a rapid hike of prices. People now talk less about a significant growth of prices for public utility services, for fruit and vegetables, for gasoline, sugar, salt, bread, chicken eggs, cereals, and noodles,” the central bank said.

But the number of Russians that believe that inflation is close to 4% is low. “The share of people who believe that inflation will amount to 4% at the end of 2017 has increased, but the majority of respondents is still not sure in it. These factors create risks for high inflationary expectations persisting in the future, and the Bank of Russia will need more time to improve trust of citizens and to cut inflationary expectations,” the research note read.

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