In simple terms
Inflation is when prices in general rise. Not everything necessarily gets more expensive by the same amount: some things a lot, some hardly change, and some even get cheaper. But on average, the same sum buys less over time. People say that money is "losing value".
Inflation is measured in percent. If inflation is 6% a year, a basket of goods that cost 1,000 ₽ costs on average 1,060 ₽ a year later.
How it is calculated
In Russia, inflation is calculated by Rosstat. Every month it looks at the prices of hundreds of goods and services — food, clothes, medicines, utilities (ЖКУ), transport — and calculates the consumer price index. For 2025, inflation in Russia was 5.59%.
The Bank of Russia tries to keep inflation near 4% a year. Its main tool is the key rate: when prices grow fast, the Central Bank raises it, loans become more expensive and deposits more profitable. People spend less and save more, and price growth slows down.
Your personal inflation can differ from the official one: it depends on what you spend your money on. For example, for a family that spends a lot on food and utilities it can be higher than average.
Example: real income on a deposit
You put 200,000 ₽ into a deposit for a year at 12% per year. After a year you have 224,000 ₽. Suppose inflation over this year is 6%. The same goods that cost 200,000 ₽ now cost 212,000 ₽.
Real return = (1 + rate) / (1 + inflation) − 1
Calculating: 1.12 / 1.06 − 1 ≈ 0.0566, that is about 5.66%. Your money grew by 12%, and your purchasing power by about 5.7%. For a quick estimate you can simply subtract: 12% − 6% = 6%.
If the same 200,000 ₽ had been kept at home for a year, a year later you could buy about 6% less with it: 200,000 / 1.06 ≈ 188,679 ₽ in last year's prices.
The deposit calculator helps compare deposit income with price growth, and the percentage calculator helps recalculate percentages.
Calculate it yourself
Change the numbers and the step-by-step calculation updates instantly. Russian rules for 2026.
What to do about inflation
- Do not keep large sums for a long time in cash or on a card without interest.
- Choose deposits and savings accounts with a rate above inflation, and take capitalization into account.
- For the long term, people also consider other instruments, for example OFZ (federal loan bonds), including inflation-protected ones. But any investment, except insured deposits, carries risk.
- Pensions and many benefits go through indexation every year to at least partly cover price growth.
Common mistakes
- Adding up inflation over several years. Three years at 8% is not 24%, but 1.08 × 1.08 × 1.08 ≈ 1.26, that is about 26%: prices grow on top of prices that have already grown.
- Looking only at the deposit rate. A 12% rate with 10% inflation gives much less than it seems.
- Confusing inflation with the exchange rate. They are related, but they are different things: the ruble can weaken against the dollar even with low inflation, and the other way round.
In Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus
Russia
Inflation is calculated by Rosstat (the federal statistics service) using the consumer price index; for 2025 it was 5.59%. The Bank of Russia aims to keep it near 4% a year and changes the key rate for this purpose.
Kazakhstan
In Kazakhstan, inflation is calculated by the Bureau of National Statistics; for 2025 it was 12.3%. Monetary policy is run by the National Bank through the base rate.
Belarus
In Belarus, inflation is calculated by Belstat, and the National Bank runs monetary policy and uses it to hold back price growth.
Sources: Bank of Russia: inflation and the key rate («Банк России: инфляция и ключевая ставка»), Rosstat («Росстат»)