The Bank of Russia unexpectedly maintained its key interest rate at a record-high 21% , defying analysts’ expectations of another significant hike as inflation remains stubbornly elevated. The decision marks a shift toward a more measured approach in balancing economic growth and price stability. Key Details Inflation Concerns: Annual inflation climbed to 8.9% in November, well above the central bank’s 4% target , with inflation expectations reaching 13.9% in December. Policy Rationale: The central bank cited the significant tightening of monetary conditions after October’s 200-basis point hike as sufficient to resume disinflationary processes. Governor Elvira Nabiullina emphasized avoiding both economic overheating and severe slowdowns. Economic Overheating: Elevated government spending on the war in Ukraine and social programs, coupled with labor shortages and rising wages, have fueled strong domestic demand, exacerbating price pressures...
As we all know, food is very important part in our budgeting. We cannot be too stingy on our food, allocating too few, we might end up starving end of the month while over allocation and we might ended up gaining few pounds end of the month - which is not something that we wanted. Anyway, we need to make sure we have sufficient allocation on food, and while for some of us who are renting room near to our working area and do not have the luxury to make our own food, there are some who are able to do so - which is good, as you can spend time doing something useful and at the same time reducing the food cost and finally bring down the monthly food allocation which can in turn make the savings or investment allocation higher. For the next few blog post, I will try to post the details of few of the ways to cut the food bills. The following are the brief summary of how you can cut the food bills whenever you are thinking to save for annual vacation, or just trying to cut the amount y...