Inflation is still an integral part of the Russian economy, but its level changes from year to year. To measure it, a special indicator is used in Russia.
Inflation
In its most widespread understanding, inflation is an increase in the prices of goods and services offered on the market, not due to an increase in their quality or improvement in other characteristics. From the point of view of economic analysis, inflation actually means a decrease in the so-called purchasing power of money, that is, a situation in which one and the same nominal amount of money can currently buy less goods than could have been purchased some time ago.
It is important to take into account that inflation is a process distributed over time, which is associated with a gradual rise in prices for goods, and not a sharp jump in prices for a particular type of product or service, or a general sharp rise in prices in the market. The opposite process, that is, a decrease in the price of goods or services, is usually called deflation, but this is a much rarer phenomenon in the economy, which, moreover, is usually short-lived.
Inflation index
To measure the level of inflation in most countries of the world, special indicators are used that allow tracking the intensity of price increases in the economy, comparing the incomes of the population with it and determining the dynamics of their living standards. So, in Russia, the so-called consumer price index is usually used as this indicator.
This index is calculated on the basis of a certain set of goods and services, which is commonly called the consumer basket. It includes a typical list of products and services that the average Russian citizen consumes over the course of a month. Accordingly, the dynamics of its total value is the criterion on the basis of which the consumer price index is calculated.
The Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation calculates two main types of this indicator: the monthly consumer price index, which is defined as the change in the value of the consumer basket in relation to the previous month in percent, and the annual index, which is designed to compare the average annual price level.
Thus, on the whole, it can be stated that inflation in Russia tends to slow down: the highest value of the consumer price index was recorded in 1992, when at the end of the year it was 2608.8%. Then it gradually decreased, reaching the level of 111.0% in 1997, but in 1998 in connection with the crisis there was again a significant increase in the price level, as a result of which inflation rose to 184.4%.
Since 2000, the maximum recorded indicator of the consumer price index in the Russian Federation was 120.2%: it was recorded just in 2000. At the same time, the lowest inflation was characteristic for the last three years: in 2011 the index value was 106.1%, in 2012 - 106.6%, in 2013 - 106.5%.
