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A draft plan to combat inflation will be presented to the government today

The relevant departments will develop a program to combat inflation based on the results of consideration of a package of anti-inflationary measures at a meeting of the Russian government on Thursday, a source in the Cabinet of Ministers told reporters on the eve of the meeting. According to him, a package of anti-inflationary measures will be presented at a meeting of the Ministry of Economic Development, the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank.

“It is expected that this plan will be accepted as a basis, and on its basis it will probably be proposed to develop a program of measures aimed at limiting the rise in consumer prices,” the source said. The program is expected to be developed within a month.

The anti-inflationary package includes several groups of measures. The first group is measures in the field of monetary policy. In particular, the source said, the Ministry of Finance proposes to introduce monitoring and analysis of external borrowings of state-owned companies, bearing in mind that the inflow and outflow of capital affects the balance of payments. The second group of measures is related to a decrease in the growth rate of food prices. To this end, it is planned to extend the agreement on regulating prices for socially important products, use grain intervention mechanisms, and take measures to support domestic production of milk, meat and fruits and vegetables.

The third group of measures is aimed at developing the infrastructure of trade and commodity production networks. In particular, measures are envisaged to stimulate the sale of domestic agricultural products and reduce intermediary links. In addition, it is planned to continue developing a law on state regulation of trade in the Russian Federation. Another group of measures is aimed at reducing price increases in the markets for petroleum products and construction materials. It is planned to develop competition in these sectors by developing exchange trading and stimulating cost reduction. Antimonopoly measures are also envisaged, in particular the fight against cartels in these sectors.

Finally, the last group of measures is related to increasing the efficiency of price regulation for products and services of natural monopolies and for housing and communal services. In particular, it is proposed to extend to them the procedure for purchasing products and services on a competitive basis. If this proposal is adopted, corresponding changes to the law on natural monopolies will be required. According to a government source, the proposed measures are mainly of a medium-term nature.

"News Time"