Regional inflation in Russia and ways of controlling it

Abstract

The article focuses on regional inflation in Russia, showing that there are independent regional factors shaping inflation and that there are considerable discrepancies between the levels of regional and national inflation. There is a need for more effective anti-inflationary policy to ensure stable social and economic development of the country and its regions. The problem, however, is that the instruments of anti-inflationary policy targeted at one type of inflation may act as triggers for another type of inflation. Therefore, for a successful anti-inflationary policy we must first identify the factors that contribute to the development of inflation. Otherwise, the anti-inflation measures may cause a rise in prices rather than help the government maintain them at a lower level. We carried out correlation analysis of the interrelation between the consumer price index and inflation rates over the past few years and found that the cost-related factors play a key role in the inflationary processes in Russia and its regions. Therefore, a conclusion was made that monetary methods alone are ineffective to control inflation and recommendations were given for improving regional anti-inflationary policies.