Inflation favored by cost of sanitary regime: BIEC

Future Inflation Index (WPI), which forecasts the direction of changes in prices of goods and services in advance, increased by nearly 1 point in August compared to July, reported Investment and Economic Cycles Office (BIEC). According to analysts, pro-consumer policy and the costs of the sanitary regime are conducive to inflation.

As BIEC indicated, along with the gradual unfreezing of the economy there are pro-inflationary signals, mainly on the part of entrepreneurs. 

"Increased budget spending mainly on individual consumption is conducive to price increases. As a consequence, there are more and more companies planning to raise," the release reads.

Analysts pointed out that the prices of some commodities were gradually rising, although these prices were incomparably lower than in the pre-pandemic situation. Concerns about an accelerated increase in prices expressed by consumers remain at an elevated level, but in relation to the quotations at the beginning of the pandemic, they are systematically reducing.

The July research indicates a significant increase in the percentage of those producers who intend to increase prices for their products in the coming months, compared to the previous month. Currently, the advantage of enterprises planning price increases over the percentage of companies planning to reduce prices is close to 3 percentage points. According to experts, this is a significant change compared to the situation two months ago, when the vast majority of companies planned to cut prices. 

(PAP)