Prices for communal services grow 28.1% in first half of 2002 in Russia

The prices for communal services rose 28.1 percent in the first half of this year in Russia, according to the Russian State Statistics Committee (as compared to a 30.5 percent increase in prices for communal services in the first half of 2001). In June 2002 the tariffs for communal services rose 2.1 percent (as compared to a one-percent increase in May 2002). Housing prices rose 2.5 percent, while prices for communal services increased 1.9 percent in June 2002. The prices for communal services posted an increase of 53.9 percent in June 2002 as compared to June 2001. The inflation rate was 9 percent in the first half of this year in Russia, including the inflation rate of 0.5 percent in June 2002.