Retail sales last month expanded at the slowest pace since March as a weaker ruble and consumer-price growth dampened demand while the jobless rate increased for the first time in three months, the State Statistics Service said Thursday.
Disposable incomes shrank for the first time since August 2009, falling 0.7 percent last month from the same period last year, and retail sales added an annual 4.3 percent for smallest increase in seven months, the service said.
The unemployment rate in October grew to 6.8 percent. The rise in joblessness and shrinking demand may temper a recovery from Russia’s record slump last year. Annual inflation in October reached the highest since January. The ruble was the worst performing currency last month among emerging European economies, losing about 0.5 percent against the dollar, Bloomberg data show.
(Bloomberg)
