Клара Сейдахметова
According to our Personal Consumer Expenditures Index, the demand for goods and services for the second week of autumn remains almost at the level of last year.
The demand for food products decreased by an average of 7% compared to last year. This is due to a significant increase in food prices in August this year. So, inflation began to exceed the growth of expenses, which suggests that people did not buy more products – they have to give more money for the same products relative to the autumn of last year.
There is a cooling of demand minus inflation in many categories for non-food products in general: medicines and medical drugs, building materials, furniture and household appliances. There is also a gradual decrease in demand for office supplies, toys and sporting goods, clothing and footwear relative to the level of last year.
There is an increase in expenses in the following categories by services: beauty and health, and construction. At the same time, the decline demonstrates the demand for air and railway tickets and car rental.
In our opinion, the demand growth at the level of last year and the observed sharp slowdown in the growth of the Index in comparison with the summer period data are due to some factors: the end of the holiday period, the beginning of the new school year and the fact that durable goods have already been purchased over the standard of their consumption level.
