MOSCOW, April 25 (Itar-Tass) – The Russian government will take measures to check price rises and the growth of the cost of the housing and utilities services, Russian President Vladimir Putin said during the live question-and-answers session on Thursday.
“We will work in this direction so that people should not have to make unjustified payments,” he said.
Putin acknowledged that a certain growth of tariffs is planned. He explained that rigidly checking tariffs is “a double-edged weapon, as far as investment plans of natural monopolies go.” “But, most probably, we will check them somewhat, too,” the president added.
The head of state stressed again that the growth of the cost of the housing and utilities services is connected not with price rises but with the change of norms. “Regions quite often revise norms, making services costlier,” he said. “This is impermissible,” the president holds. “I do hope that the government and regional authorities will duly react to that,” he added.
On the whole; Putin said, prices in Russia grow at a moderate pace. “Price rises, first of all, reflect such an indicator as inflation, which is, historically, at a low level in Russia,” he noted. The president recalled that the record inflation of 6.3 percent was registered in 2011. “Inflation must be around six percent, 5.9 percent, as planned, at the end of the year,” he said, adding that the inflation rate at present is just over 7 percent.