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Russian consumer prices rise 1.26% in first 12 days of 2026 after VAT hike, statistics agency says
Russian consumer prices rise 1.26% in first 12 days of 2026 after VAT hike, statistics agency says
About this update from Sberbank
Russia's consumer price index rose by 1.26% between January 1 and 12 after a rise in value-added tax, the state statistics agency said on Wednesday.The government raised the rate of VAT by 2 percentage points to 22% in order to boost revenues and compensate for increased military spending and falling oil and gas revenues. Companies are expected to raise prices accordingly. The central bank and the finance ministry estimated the VAT hike will add between 0.6 and 1.0 percentage points to annual inflation in 2026. Analysts at the country's largest bank Sberbank estimated the impact at 2 percentage points.The hike will have a one-off impact on two-thirds of all goods in the basket used to calculate the index, according to official estimates. By comparison, in the first 13 days of 2025 the index grew by 0.67%.