Minister says inflation in Russia at noticeable level in 2024

MOSCOW, Sep 25 (PRIME) -- Inflation in Russia will be at noticeable levels all next year, Economic Development Minister Maxim Reshetnikov said on Monday at a meeting of the parliament’s upper house Federation Council committee on economic policy.

“Inflation, we will have December to December (in 2023), will be 7.5%, average annual inflation next year will be 7.2%. December to December 2024 will be 4.5%, we expect it to decrease, but nevertheless it will be at quite visible levels all next year,” he said.

The situation with the ruble exchange rate requires much more complex solutions than returning the sale of foreign currency proceeds, he also said.

According to Reshetnikov, the level of sale of foreign currency proceeds is quite high, and in the last five or six months, about 85% of foreign currency proceeds were returned and sold.

“The situation is different in that we have 35% returned in rubles. We were and still are actively in favor of transfers into national currencies of trade and so on. Exporters actively take these rubles and return them. The question is where and how they take them, and what kind of market of, in fact, offshore rubles we have formed, i.e. rubles that are circulated abroad,” he said.

He explained that currently there are no restrictions, for example, on transferring rubles abroad for individuals and legal entities, and as a result, there will be more and more rubles in Russia, which eventually will affect the ruble rate.

Measures to solve the problem should be diversified and to be created quite quickly, but the Economic Development Ministry, as well as the central bank, stands against two exchange rates.

According to Reshetnikov, it is necessary to establish monitoring on how many rubles are circulating abroad, how they get there, how the flows of the ruble go.

Excessively tight monetary policy is one of the internal risks for the development of the Russian economy, while the key external risk is the slowdown of the global economy, he also said.

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