The European and American inflation rates have left the Russian ones behind, says the statistical report provided via the website of Russia’s Federal State Statistics Service on the inflation in Russia and abroad. According to Rosstat, the inflation rates came to 0.4% in Russia in march 2011, whereas in the EU inflation reached 0.5% on average, and the inflation rates for the United States were registered at 0.6% on average.

In April 2011, consumer prices went up most dramatically against March 2011 in Byelorussia (4.5%), Malta (2.1%), and Cyprus (1.4%). Prices actually went down in one country, Bulgaria, and remained the same in Switzerland and Korea.

As for food prices, those of bread, grain, meat, and meat foods rose most of all both in Russia and the European Union, whereas the prices of fruits and sweets increased noticeably in Europe but dropped by 0.7% to 2.9% in Russia.

SKB-Bank’s experts remind everyone that, according to the forecasts of Russia’s Ministry for Economic Development, the inflation for the year 2011 will probably be sustained within 7% to 8%. In the first quarter of 2011, the inflation rates were rather high due to a dramatic price increase in January. However, inflation started gradually slowing down later on, and came to 0.8%, 0.6%, and 0.4% in February, March, and April, respectively.