Worsening fighting in The Ukraine is stressing the Russian economy, with rising inflation and a weakening rouble pushing up prices for businesses and consumers.
Sanctions imposed as a result of the conflict are starting to bite and moves to lessen the impact are having mixed results.
With inflation up 1.7% since June to 7.8%, President Vladimir Putin’s decision to put an embargo on food imports would seem destined to fuel rising prices.
Meanwhile, the Bank of Russia has pledged to let the rouble float, which is likely to see the value of the currency drop even more against other major currencies.
Cost of living benchmark
Putin is allegedly in talks with the government in The Ukraine to resolve the border and annexation of The Crimea issues, but any ceasefire is likely a long way off.
Below are lists of the countries with inflation of 10% or more – the high rates are generally down to government mishandling of the economy and civil conflict.
As a benchmark, average global inflation is estimated as 4.39% in August 2014, compared to a rate of 4.62% 12 months ago. The figures come from expat benefits firm ECA International’s blog Money Moves, which warns the global inflation statistics are a rule-of-thumb and not adjusted results.
Countries with more than 10% inflation | |||
---|---|---|---|
Country | Inflation | Reporting date | Trend |
Syria | 88.3% | December 2013 | DOWN |
Venezuela | 60.9% | May 2014 | UP |
Sudan | 46.8% | July 2014 | UP |
Malawi | 30.0% | June 2014 | - |
Argentina | 20.5% | April 2014 | UP |
Belarus | 20.1% | July 2014 | UP |
Central African Republic | 15.4% | March 2014 | UP |
Ghana | 15.0% | June 2014 | UP |
Iran | 14.6% | June 2014 | DOWN |
Mongolia | 13.9% | June 2014 | UP |
Ukraine | 12.6% | July 2014 | UP |
Egypt | 10.6% | July 2014 | UP |
Guinea | 10.2% | April 2014 | - |
Source: MoneyMoves | |||
Inflation alert countries | |||
Country | Inflation | Reporting date | Trend |
Bolivia | 7.5% | July 2014 | Up 1.1% since May 2014 |
Costa Rica | 5.2% | July 2014 | Up 2.5% since February 2014 |
Ethiopia | 9.0% | July 2014 | Up 1.4% since January 2014 |
Gabon | 8.2% | April 2014 | Up 4.9% since December 2013 |
Honduras | 6.6% | July 2014 | Up 1.7% since December 2013 |
Kenya | 7.7% | July 2014 | Up 1.4% since March 2014 |
Kyrgyzsatan | 8.5% | June 2014 | Up 4.3% since February 2014 |
Liberia | 9.6% | May 2014 | Up 1.8% since February 2014 |
Nicaragua | 6.8% | July 2014 | Up 2.1% since May 2014 |
Russia | 7.8% | June 2014 | Up 1.7% since January 2014 |
Tajikistan | 6.6% | June 2014 | Up 1.7% since March 2014 |
Turkey | 9.3% | June 2014 | Up 1.9% since December 2013 |
Source: MoneyMoves |