MOSCOW, February 19. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia’s consumer inflation rate picked up the pace of 0.2% in the period from February 11 through February 17, 2014, the Russian State Statistics Service says in its regular report, adding that the indicator has gone up by 0.5% since the beginning of February and grown by 1.1% since the beginning of the year.
Over the same period of the preceding year, consumer prices gained 0.3% on February 1-17, as well as had grown by 1.3% since January 1, 2013. In February 2013, the country’s inflation was estimated at 0.6%.
On February 11 - February 17, the biggest growth of prices was registered for vodka (1.3%), the statistics said, adding that prices for frozen fish, milk, cottage cheese, sour cream, cheese, butter, granulated sugar and millet edged up by 0.4-0.7%.
Simultaneously, average prices of eggs continued decreasing and dropped by 1.5% over the week. In addition, the prices of buckwheat and sunflower oil slid down by 0.3 percent.
In the period under review, prices of fruit and vegetables increased by 1.2% on average across the country, while the prices of cabbages and onions went up by 4.2% and 3.7% respectively, while the prices of cucumbers, carrots and potatoes grew by 1.6-2.8%. Simultaneously, the tomato prices slid down by 1.2% over the week.
In the designated period, the Russian State Statistics Service registered 0.1% growth in the petrol prices and 0.2% decrease in the average prices of diesel fuel.
Moreover, the rent for state-own and municipal flats and prices of tickets for urban transport increased by 0.3-0.5% on average across the country.