UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 25, 2019. Ural Federal District’s annual inflation rate was estimated at 3.9% in January 2019 (still below the country’s average of 5%); in Kurgan Region, the figure was 5%; in Sverdlovsk Region, Chelyabinsk Region, and Tyumen Region (including its autonomous regions), the inflation rate was estimated at 4.7%, 4.1%, and 2.8%, respectively, the Central Bank of Russia’s Ural division’s press service reports.

The prices of food items rose 4% faster in yearly terms (up 0.7% on a year earlier, mostly due to greenhouse-grown vegetable price fluctuations). The increase was at its highest in Kurgan Region (5.2%) and at its lowest in Yamalo-Nenetsky Autonomous Region (0.9%).

The prices of non-food items in Ural Federal District rose less quickly than originally expected (3.8% in yearly terms). Just like the country’s average, this is 0.4% more than in December 2018. The increase in the price of new cars (announced by dealers in late 2018) and the rising diesel fuel and gasoline prices were the primary factors behind the rise.

Among Ural Federal District’s constituencies, the price of diesel fuel and gasoline went up most quickly in Kurgan Region (+2% and +1.2% faster, respectively); the price of diesel fuel also rose by 3.3% faster than in December 2018 in Yamalo-Nenetsky Autonomous Region. The VAT increase appears to have had very little impact on the rest of the commodity prices, whereas the gradual increase of footwear and electronics prices even slowed down a bit because of moderate demand.