AGL 39.58 Decreased By ▼ -0.42 (-1.05%)
AIRLINK 129.01 Decreased By ▼ -2.21 (-1.68%)
BOP 6.75 Decreased By ▼ -0.06 (-0.88%)
CNERGY 4.61 Decreased By ▼ -0.10 (-2.12%)
DCL 8.40 Decreased By ▼ -0.04 (-0.47%)
DFML 41.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.47 (-1.13%)
DGKC 81.40 Decreased By ▼ -0.69 (-0.84%)
FCCL 32.71 Decreased By ▼ -0.39 (-1.18%)
FFBL 71.51 Decreased By ▼ -1.36 (-1.87%)
FFL 12.30 Increased By ▲ 0.04 (0.33%)
HUBC 110.39 Decreased By ▼ -0.35 (-0.32%)
HUMNL 14.45 Decreased By ▼ -0.06 (-0.41%)
KEL 5.13 Decreased By ▼ -0.06 (-1.16%)
KOSM 7.51 Decreased By ▼ -0.10 (-1.31%)
MLCF 38.70 Decreased By ▼ -0.20 (-0.51%)
NBP 63.00 Decreased By ▼ -1.01 (-1.58%)
OGDC 189.99 Decreased By ▼ -2.83 (-1.47%)
PAEL 25.35 Decreased By ▼ -0.33 (-1.29%)
PIBTL 7.33 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.14%)
PPL 150.50 Decreased By ▼ -3.57 (-2.32%)
PRL 25.55 Decreased By ▼ -0.28 (-1.08%)
PTC 17.50 Decreased By ▼ -0.31 (-1.74%)
SEARL 81.00 Decreased By ▼ -1.30 (-1.58%)
TELE 7.70 Decreased By ▼ -0.06 (-0.77%)
TOMCL 32.90 Decreased By ▼ -0.56 (-1.67%)
TPLP 8.35 Decreased By ▼ -0.14 (-1.65%)
TREET 16.47 Decreased By ▼ -0.15 (-0.9%)
TRG 56.70 Decreased By ▼ -0.70 (-1.22%)
UNITY 27.75 Increased By ▲ 0.24 (0.87%)
WTL 1.35 Decreased By ▼ -0.02 (-1.46%)
BR100 10,407 Decreased By -97.2 (-0.92%)
BR30 30,849 Decreased By -377.8 (-1.21%)
KSE100 97,589 Decreased By -491 (-0.5%)
KSE30 30,354 Decreased By -204.5 (-0.67%)

It's hard enough living on a pension of 500 dollars (350 euros) a month in Moscow. Now Moisei Kelmanovich has to cope with rising inflation and his faith in politicians is taking another hit.
"Food prices have risen sharply, mainly on dairy and meat," said Kelmanovich, 87, as he shopped at a local market in central Moscow. "Only the price of matches hasn't gone up."
Even President Vladimir Putin's promise to fight inflation during a televised question-and-answer session with Russian citizens on Thursday failed to hearten Kelmanovich. "I don't really believe him," he said. The Russian government has predicted inflation of 10 percent this year, well above the previous estimate of eight percent, and some officials are expecting the final count could be even higher.
Officials have blamed inflation on a number of factors, including rising global energy prices, higher prices for EU food exports, as well as inefficiencies in Russia's own market, such as monopolies.
"It is indeed a big problem in the Russian economy, as in the world economy as a whole.... This has not been a good year," said Alexei Savatyugin, a senior official from the Finance Ministry.
It is also a problem that is beginning to weigh on the minds of Russians ahead of December parliamentary elections where Putin is set to dominate as the main candidate for the ruling United Russia party.
"Inflation is worsening the mood of the people. I think it could affect the turnout. But measures have been taken and people have softened up," said Pavel Medvedev, a member of parliament from United Russia. The government has announced price-cutting measures, including increasing export tariffs for grain producers to force them to sell on the Russian market and lowering import duties on dairy products from Europe.
The Russian government has also extracted a promise from major producers and distributors to impose a temporary freeze on the price of food staples amid reports that Russian pensioners have begun stockpiling.
"This is a problem against which the government must fight. To move effectively we need to increase revenues for the population, particularly for pensioners," Putin said in his televised address on Thursday. But Andrei Nechayev, head of an investment holding called the Russian Financial Corporation and a member of the opposition Union of Rightist Forces party, said the government's anti-inflation efforts would fail.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2007

Comments

Comments are closed.