'We don’t really keep any statistical record of food prices growth, so we would be hard put to come up with precise data, but it is certainly obvious that fruit and vegetables have grown very expensive over the last month. The recent ban on employing foreign workers in the capacity of shop assistants is definitely one of the main causes of this. Russian citizens just have to be paid higher salaries, which is bound to affect the food prices,’ Alexander Piankov, Director of Shartash Service Ltd., explained to UrBC.

Fruit and vegetables have become 12.2% more expensive in the last month, 38.6% more expensive since the beginning of the year, and 16.2% more expensive compared to June 2006.