MOSCOW, April 8The recipes for fighting inflation in Russia are simple: do not print money, do not allow administrative control over prices, and do not inflate the budget deficit beyond 2-3% of GDP, commented economist and former Russian Finance Minister Mikhail Zadornov in an interview.
«From the point of view of fighting inflation, all the recipes are known: do not print more money, do not allow price controls, do not inflate the budget deficit beyond 2-3% of GDP, which is a very important moment for Russia now,» he said. He.
At the same time, the state cannot manage prices to reduce inflation, Zadornov believes. If you try to do this, then you can «very quickly come to total control and the washing out of goods from the market,» he added.
«How to manage prices, we passed in the Soviet Union. Those who found this glorious time remember everything perfectly. You can't manage prices,» he concluded.
Inflation in Russia jumped at the end of February 2022 against the background of the imposition of sanctions against the Russian economy by Western countries and peaked in April at 17, 83%. However, against the backdrop of the strengthening of the ruble, the restoration of imports and a good harvest, annual price growth rates began to slow down. At the same time, this spring, the base effect began to influence the decline in price growth rates in annual terms. According to the Ministry of Economic Development, inflation slowed to 3.29% on April 3.
According to the official forecast of the Bank of Russia, taking into account the ongoing monetary policy, inflation will decrease to 5-7% in 2023 and return to 4% in 2024.