Page 38 - RPTRusFeb17

4.5.3 Retail sector dynamics
Rosstat’s data release for the first month of 2017 provided a surprise, with retail sales turnover printing -2.3% y/y a fter the -5.9% y/y in December 2016. The wage growth in December was reviewed upwards, in both nominal (+8.3% y/y) and real (+2.8% y/y) terms, with the flash estimate for the real wage in January slightly higher at 3.1% y/y. Thus, the retail sales-real wage gap narrowed.
From the monetary policy perspective, the recovery in retail sales did not bring any significant inflationary pressure, as the headline CPI is still on a steady downward path, declining from 5.4% y/y in December to 4.6% by 20 February.
38 RUSSIA Country Report February 2017 www.intellinews.com