The Russian government has amended the Federal Plan of Statistical Works, removing a requirement for the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) to publish a bulletin on consumer prices for gasoline and diesel fuel, according to a decree highlighted last week by the Telegram channel Lutset and reported by The Bell.
The document states: 'Item 1.5.13 is to be excluded,' referring to 'Information on consumer prices for petroleum products,' according to Meduza.
The bulletin contained fuel prices broken down by grade (AI-92, AI-95, AI-98, and diesel), by region, and for nearly 1,800 gas stations in 280 Russian cities, The Insider reported. The Bell noted that the move effectively closes access to data that allowed tracking of fuel inflation.
Consumer fuel price data had been published on Rosstat's website weekly on Wednesdays at 19:00 Moscow time. As of now, the agency's site still carries an announcement of the next publication, scheduled for July 1. Rosstat's press service has not commented on reports that the bulletin will be discontinued, according to Meduza and The Insider.
According to the latest Rosstat data, from June 16 to June 22, average gasoline prices in Russia rose by 3%, and diesel prices by 2.7%. Bloomberg reported that this was the largest weekly increase in 20 years, The Bell noted. Gasoline prices rose the most in Dagestan (+16.5%) and Chechnya (+15.2%), according to The Bell.