Price and financial stability of the Bank of Russia: Non-financial mechanisms for the competition development

Abstract

The paper considers the problem of price and financial stability of the Bank of Russia, as well as the issue of the influence of inflation and currency exchange rate volatility on economic growth rates. It has been proved that the growth in prices for services has a significant impact on the inflation dynamics. It is the dynamics of the consumer price index for services that generally determine inflation in the service sector. It has been substantiated that in the policy of the Bank of Russia it is expedient to use non-monetary instruments to reduce inflation, namely the development of competition and control over the pricing mechanism on the market. Effective measures that contribute to reducing the variation in prices for services and inflation are: raising competition in the economy and the growth of control over the activities of natural monopolies; measures aimed at developing competition in the housing and communal services market, control over the formation of tariffs in the light of the implementation of programs intended to increase the efficiency of natural monopoly subjects; implementation of the requirements for the growth of transparency and openness of the activities of natural monopolies, especially in terms of tariff calculation, as well as the growth of control over their activities; the participation of the Bank of Russia, together with the territorial offices of the Bank of Russia and the Offices of the Federal Antimonopoly Service in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, in the process of monitoring and approving the tariffs of natural monopolies. Based on the results of the study, the authors of the paper developed proposals for non-monetary instruments as a measure to reduce inflation and improve the policy effectiveness of the Bank of Russia on inflation targeting.