Russia Services PMI June 2008

Russian service industries - ranging from banking and telecommunications to restaurants - expanded more rapidly in June according to the VTB Bank Purchasing Managers' Index for services, which rose to 59.1, the highest reading in nine months, and up from 58.7 in May. A reading above 50 shows expansion. Input prices eased from the month before to the second-highest level since the index was created in October 2001, the bank said.




Economic growth in Russia is being fuelled by record crude prices, which are boosting wages and consumer spending. Retail sales rose an annual 14.6 percent in May and the inflation rate reached 15.1 percent, government figures showed.

The central bank set an inflation target of 8.5 percent for this year after the rate jumped to 11.9 percent last year, and raised it to a range of between 9 percent and 10.5 percent in March. The OECD have estimated that the inflation rate may reach 13 percent whole year 2008.