Regional Economy report: consumption growth speeds up amid economic slowdown
Growth in consumer activity slightly accelerated in July—August. Demand for services and public catering remained strong. Car sales went up in many Russian regions.
However, economic activity was growing more slowly. Cooling demand in the construction market caused a decline in the output of construction materials in the North-West, the Urals, and Siberia. A number of carmakers in the Volga Region revised their production targets downwards. Cargo traffic at Southern seaports went down, due to a decrease in the shipment of petroleum products and grains. Contrastingly, a notable rise in the tourist traffic in Central Russia and in the Far East encouraged the development of the tourist infrastructure. Oil refineries in the Urals restored capacity utilisation rates after completing repairs. North-Western producers of non-ferrous metals expanded output.
The special topics of this issue include producer prices and price expectations, investment activity, and the commercial services and public catering market.
More details are available in the September issue of the report Regional Economy: Commentaries by Bank of Russia Main Branches.