Page 8 - RusRPTSept21

twice the rate of actual inflation – which is itself inflationary.
The reason for this mismatch is the continuing soaring prices for food which remain in double digits and are extremely high in some categories like sugar where prices have risen by three quarters in the last year. As the share of food in the average shopping basket has risen from a low of 35% to around 50% now these prices are very visible and a recent survey found that a third of Russians are struggling to make ends meet so hikes in food prices are very painful. bne IntelliNews tackled the same issue in an article that looked at the borscht index which calculates the changes in the price of the ingredients to make a portion of borscht and then works out how many portions a family of four can afford each month: it has fallen to only 48 portions a month, and that is if you don't use meat in the dish.
However, real incomes are starting to rise again slowly as the economy recovers and Russia is on course for a bumper harvest that should ease these pressures going forward
8 RUSSIA Country Report September 2021 www.intellinews.com