cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/50369476 > cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/50369053 > > > Archived > > > > […] > > > > A growing number of Russians are complaining about the rising cost of living, saying that increases in everything from utilities to food and alcohol are putting mounting strain on their wallets. > > > > Social media has been flooded in recent weeks with videos showing shoppers comparing current prices with those of last year. > > > > […] > > > > State statistics agency Rosstat says inflation stood at 5.6% at the end of 2025, while average prices for goods and services rose 4.2% in 2025. > > > > The Central Bank has said that average wages are outpacing these increases, rising by 15% in 2025 and exceeding 100,000 rubles ($1,306) per month in 19 regions. > > > > But there is a wide gap between these official figures and people’s lived experiences. A survey by the Public Opinion Foundation conducted for the Central Bank said perceived inflation — a measurement of how ordinary Russians experience rising prices — now stands at 14.5%. > > > > […] > > > > Yelizaveta, a mother of several children from Moscow who heads a department at a Russian company, said she has recently switched to strict budgeting and started choosing the cheapest options when shopping for her family in response to the increasing prices. > > > > “I’ve become more attentive to discounts,” Yelizaveta, 42, told The Moscow Times, adding that she now shops at the Pyaterochka grocery chain instead of the more expensive Perekrestok. > > > > “There are certain products I just can’t give up, but apart from those exceptions, I look at the price first,” she said, adding that her family of five spends around 10,000 rubles ($130) a week on groceries. > > > > Yelizaveta said she has stopped using beauty salons altogether and that paying for her children’s educational and extracurricular activities has become “almost impossible.” > > > > […] > > > > Economist Vladislav Zhukovsky said public-sector workers and pensioners were particularly affected because wages, pensions and social benefits are indexed to the official inflation rate rather than the real inflation rate. > > > > […] > > > > Rosstat data shows that items like lemons and coffee saw steep price rises in 2025, with per-kilogram prices up 31.8% and 25.8% respectively. Rents increased 22.1%. > > > > […] > > > > Prices spiked in early January, when consumer prices rose 1.26% between Jan. 1 and 12. That is more than six times the increase recorded in the final tracked week of December, when Rosstat reported that consumer price growth had slowed to 0.2%. > > > > […] > > > > According to Rosstat data, the largest price increases last month were seen in fruits and vegetables like cucumbers (34.4%), tomatoes (19.4%), potatoes (10.3%), carrots (8.3%) and cabbage (7.6%). > > > > The anti-war economic project Prices Today reported that cucumbers recorded the sharpest increase of any product last month, rising 23.5%. Only seven of 108 product categories tracked by the project saw prices fall in January, including semolina flour, buckwheat, pearl barley, millet, peas, salt and sugar. > > > > As ordinary Russians have taken to the internet to decry the price increases since the new year, officials have moved to downplay the concerns. > > > > […] > > > > Meanwhile, the Credit Bank of Moscow posts a rare loss as bad loans surge. > > > > Credit Bank of Moscow (MKB), Russia’s seventh-largest bank by assets and holder of around 700 billion rubles ($9.1 billion) in household deposits, reported a net loss of 9 billion rubles ($117 million) in the fourth quarter of 2025, Interfax reported, citing the bank’s financial statements.