Russia's annual inflation rate climbed to 6.3% in August 2026, its highest level since November 2025, up from 6% in July and in line with market expectations. Food price inflation accelerated to 5% from 4.4%, while non-food price growth edged up to 6.5% from 6.4%.
Motor gasoline inflation eased slightly to 24.6% from 25.9%, but remained elevated as Ukrainian strikes on Russian energy infrastructure continued to disrupt refining capacity. In turn, inflation in passenger transport rose further, reaching 10.7% compared with 9.1% in the previous month, and services inflation ticked up to 7.9% from 7.8%.
Core inflation increased to 5.4% from 5.2%, its highest reading in seven months. By contrast, utilities inflation was broadly stable at 1.6%. On a monthly basis, consumer prices fell 0.1%, reversing a 0.5% rise recorded in July.
