Last month, inflation was 4.5 percent, the lowest rate since the start of reforms, according to official statistics. In past years, however, inflation has surged in the autumn after falling through the summer.
First Deputy Economics Minister Yakov Urinson cited Economics Ministry forecasts of 16 to 17 percent inflation for the whole of the fourth quarter, only slightly higher than the 15 percent recorded in the second quarter. "In this way, we will go into 1996 with all the prerequisites needed to reach 1.2 percent [per month], as we set down in the 1996 budget," he told a news conference Thursday.
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