Consumer sentiment of citizens improved in the first quarter of 2023. Therefore, Russians are ready to buy more goods, waiting for inflation to rise. In this respect writer “Kommersant”, referring to data from Rosstat.
Rosstat’s consumer confidence index rose 5 points during the quarter to minus 18%. Noticeable improvements in the welfare of those surveyed reflect four of the seven sub-indices – changes in the economy that occurred during the year and expected within a year, expected changes in the financial situation, and assessment of conditions for major purchases.
The publication noted that the improvement in consumer sentiment was due not only to record growth in employment, real wages and pensions, but also to a noticeable weakening of the ruble. This pushed the Russians to spend more.
According to the regulator, demand is currently not at a stable level. However, the desire of Russians to spend more money in the near future creates pro-inflationary pressure. At the same time, producers have already managed to respond to the increase in demand and will increase their product prices, which may further accelerate inflation by the summer.
On February 10, Elvira Nabiullina, head of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, at a press conference statedRecently, signs of improvement in consumer sentiment have begun to appear.