Cost of Living in Russia

[MrMann]

Is it a practice in the FSU to charge foreigners more for certain things?

Museum entry is one such case. Quite often there is one price written in English and a lower price written in Russian.

[sparky114]

Well having lived this last year equally in Russia and the UK, i can honestly say that the price of general expences like your utilities are much cheaper there.

As far as food and products or cars and electronics much the same if not slightly higher than in the Uk, cost of eating in restaurants varies widley just as anywhere in the world find what you like and fits in your budget.

Do i get overcharged as a westerner...yes but those people dont get second chances on the whole i am treated very well and love the surroundings but then as a semi resident/ known person in the town after 6 years i get by just fine, without many problems that you don't already encounter in your own country.

I keep a monthly spreadsheet of the costs of  utility bills over the years we have had our house, and now in the days of better  gas/elec/water meters and competition i can say my bills have come down also the upgrading to more efficient heaters and lighting has helped a lot but then we have doubled the size of the house so all was required to be changed.

All of my utility bills in Russia in the coldest months on a 2000 sq ft house are not as much as my "council tax " in the UK per month 

But then i am not reliant on any income from employment in Russia.

[Anteros]

Well having lived this last year equally in Russia and the UK, i can honestly say that the price of general expences like your utilities are much cheaper there.

As far as food and products or cars and electronics much the same if not slightly higher than in the Uk, cost of eating in restaurants varies widley just as anywhere in the world find what you like and fits in your budget.

Do i get overcharged as a westerner...yes but those people dont get second chances on the whole i am treated very well and love the surroundings but then as a semi resident/ known person in the town after 6 years i get by just fine, without many problems that you don't already encounter in your own country.

I keep a monthly spreadsheet of the costs of  utility bills over the years we have had our house, and now in the days of better  gas/elec/water meters and competition i can say my bills have come down also the upgrading to more efficient heaters and lighting has helped a lot but then we have doubled the size of the house so all was required to be changed.

All of my utility bills in Russia in the coldest months on a 2000 sq ft house are not as much as my "council tax " in the UK per month 

But then i am not reliant on any income from employment in Russia.

You have a 2,000 sq. foot house in Russia?  Wow!  That's pretty cool.  You should make part of it a Hotel and rent rooms out to visiting RUA guys!   

[Mikeav8r]

Just saw this new article today and found it relevant to the discussion.  I was a bit surprised by number one and I think I will pass on working in Switzerland as well.  The topic city moved from 15 last year to number 12 this year:

For the first time ever, the world's most expensive city for international workers is Caracas, Venezuela, edging out even notoriously costly Tokyo and Oslo, Norway.
So reports ECA International, a company that specializes in employment conditions abroad.

Companies contract with ECA International to determine cost-of-living allowances for their expatriate employees. The biannual report compares, across hundreds of cities, a "basket" of consumer goods and services including groceries, clothes, electronics, gasoline costs and restaurant meals. (The basket does not include apartment/house rentals, utilities, school fees or auto purchases, because companies usually compensate expatriates separately for those.)

Rampant inflation pushed Caracas from No. 7 in the fall of last year all the way to the top of the list this fall: You can expect to pay the American equivalent of $3.04 for a can of soda, $7.28 for a dozen eggs, and $46.03 for a "quick lunch." Prices have shot up more than 60 percent compared with the same time last year for the same basket of goods and services.

In the United States, we're accustomed to thinking of New York City as expensive -- and of course it is, factoring in real estate. But based only on consumer goods and services, it doesn't even crack the top 30 internationally.

No U.S. city does.

On the other hand, Switzerland and Norway account for a whopping six out of the top 10 cities. Two cities in Africa, along with Caracas and Tokyo, round out the top 10.




The article can be found here:  http://homes.yahoo.com/blogs/spaces/world-s-most-expensive-cities-for-foreign-workers-014251972.html

[Mikeav8r]

Just saw this new article today and found it relevant to the discussion.  I was a bit surprised by number one and I think I will pass on working in Switzerland as well.  The topic city moved from 15 last year to number 12 this year.

I personally think the article is off, Oslo is cheaper than London in many cases (dinners out and food are slightly more expensive but not by much) likewise the Swiss cities of Genève and Zürich, the only reason these places are seen as expensive is because of the useless dollar.

You are probably right.  The article was written primarily as a reference for American (in this case, International) workers in other countries so the weak dollar will certainly be a factor.  They are really only taking into account eating out, groceries, clothes, electronics and gasoline so if housing was included, perhaps the results would be slightly different.

Even though the study was conducted by an American based company, relatively speaking, I would guess it would be pretty close to other countries findings.  I would be curious to similar studies from the EU to see how the estimates stack up based on stronger currencies.

[ashbyclarke]

With (almost) free housing and free healthcare the West isn't that golden anymore....

Now you get it!

Although more accurately, the comparison is not to 'The West' but 'The US'. Don't forget that most of Europe has sensible medicine and social housing is not a dirty word.

I'll just leave this here for benefit of those of UK extraction - and won't even mention the hardships in Greece that have led to increased suicide, homelessness, prostitution, etc.  or the financial mess that is Spain and the looming crisis in France ... those things that seem "sensible" only last until everyone else's money is gone...

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-12-05/food-poverty-uk-has-reached-public-health-emergency-levels

Not sure if you've seen this, takes a while to get going but well worth a watch, for those interested of course!

written text here: http://moneyweek.com/endofbritain/

Makes sense why the BOE base rate remains so low, and the recent announcement from the BOE that even if unemployment falls below 7% that interest rates will remain low, something of a u-turn.

It's a huge sales pitch I'll agree.

If it applies to England, it applies to the US and Europe !

[sparky114]

I will concur with most things that Danchik has to say about living here, although my life here is much different to his

I have some Business interests here that provide me some small income these days based on a business i set up with my Son in law for water Filtration in the house

other than that my money is not made within country

We have a house in the south of the Country close to the sea it sits in approx 750sqm of land and is a self contained stand alone house that we own outright

the weather down here is lovely in the summer and at the moment we are having a very mild Jan ususally it is -10 but today it is +6C and sunshine

my average bills for this house which has 4 bedrooms and a lounge study hall dining room kitchen 2 bathrooms and a utility/downstairs toilet cellar attic are as folows

3000 rouble for gas per month which is about £60
1000 rouble for Electric per month about £20......yes i try to make her turn off lights
450 rouble for water we are on a meter here so goes up in summer and down in winter about £5
rubbish is about a £1 per month
Internet is about 1000 rouble a month for fibre optic £20
telephones here are pay as you go so depends on how much we use, me next to nothing, her lots 1000 roubles between the 2 of us £20

Food well usually we end up feeding the fifty thousand on most days! so is hard to tell ( by the way i just brought the most amazingly tasty carp) i dont know how much we spend honest but it is not cheap maybe £200 or more a month, food down here is as much as back home so its a equal balance

and yes Wine flows freely down here so does the beer so this all adds to the total

Do i live like Dan i doubt it but then his world and my world here are very different i am a residing "tourist" and like it alot

We live in a provicial town so from my mind having a Car (Jeep) here is a necessity as it is the way we live to the city and back home again so life would not work as it does without one

so all in all you can tell this is a more Expat life than a day to day life we have here

As i have mentioned before the bills for running this house are not as much as my council tax back home

We have a new Mall just opened here in town, so now in this little town we have a McDonalds, Subway, Benneton, M&S, H&M, Sportsmaster, M Video, Magnit, Pandorra jewellery, ostins, Coopers Jeans, Office, and a big food shop you find in France called Ashaan. ohh and Ikea in Rostov. so the place feels more like the west every time we come here.

Well that about wraps it up for my world

[mendeleyev]

Very helpful link from Danchik:

I like this site as far as making everyday comparisons with the cost of living: http://www.expatistan.com/cost-of-living

[mendeleyev]

I've separated the "Cost of Living in Russia" from the thread "Cost of Living in Moscow" as they are certainly very different. Please help me keep those separations as that will assist future readers who are considering a move to the FSU.

[Seasoned]

Auchan is widely spread in Russia, Okey and Pyaterochka are more frequent though. The cost of living will be growing in Russia now if you are paid in rubles I guess.

[andrewfi]

Auchan is widely spread in Russia, Okey and Pyaterochka are more frequent though. The cost of living will be growing in Russia now if you are paid in rubles I guess.

Inflation has been falling over the past few months.

[MrMann]

Inflation has been falling over the past few months.

Source please.

[andrewfi]

I don't run a news agency, don't be lazy!

However, here, yer goes  PPI: http://russia-insider.com/sites/insider/files/russia-producer-prices-change.png  I don't have one for CPI the other main index of inflation.

Unlike, for example, the US, because of Russia's economic structure PPI pushes CPI.

In Russia, the PPI is a forward leading indicator of CPI, because the ruble drives a lot of firm’s input prices. PPI not only fell dramatically in August but fell well below CPI at 5.4% indicating that inflation will subside in the coming months allowing even larger gains for disposable incomes and thus ultimately retail sales.

[MrMann]

I'm not lazy, I've already looked. All the sources I can find, including the Russian Central Bank and the World Bank, agree that the inflation rate has risen from around 6% at the start of the year to more than 8% now.

In fact inflation is at a 3 year high and is likely to increase further.



Food inflation is even higher than the overall inflation rate.

[andrewfi]

Well, now you are caught up with the real world again!

But don't make a habit of asking me for sources unless you want to pay for my time. If they are to hand when I write a post then I may choose, and often do, include them.

Now you've learned something you didn't know before but had you done the job just a little better you'd have had a better picture.

[WestCoast]

I don't run a news agency, don't be lazy!

However, here, yer goes  PPI: http://russia-insider.com/sites/insider/files/russia-producer-prices-change.png  I don't have one for CPI the other main index of inflation.

Unlike, for example, the US, because of Russia's economic structure PPI pushes CPI.

In Russia, the PPI is a forward leading indicator of CPI, because the ruble drives a lot of firm’s input prices. PPI not only fell dramatically in August but fell well below CPI at 5.4% indicating that inflation will subside in the coming months allowing even larger gains for disposable incomes and thus ultimately retail sales.

Let's all remember the conspiracy sites Andrew gets his news from. Russia insider in association with The Vineyard of the Saker

[Larry]

Auchan is widely spread in Russia, Okey and Pyaterochka are more frequent though. The cost of living will be growing in Russia now if you are paid in rubles I guess.

Inflation has been falling over the past few months.

Not according to the folks quoted in this article in The St. Petersburg Times:

RUSSIAN SHOPPERS FEEL THE PINCH OF INFLATION

Standing on tiptoe, Galina Abdullina strained to reach the back of the top shelf to get one of the last tubs of discounted smetana, the sour cream beloved by Russians.

She said she had come to this branch of Pyatyorochka, a budget supermarket chain, after purchasing just a loaf of bread in a nearby upmarket shopping center where prices have risen rapidly.

"It's terrible," said Abdullina, 77, who spent her working life as an employee in Soviet department stores GUM and Detsky Mir. "We go there to look at things, and here to buy."

Abdullina is one of millions of Russians hit by rising prices in the wake of Russia's August ban of food imports from the European Union and United States, a tit-for-tat response to Western sanctions imposed on Russia for its support of separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine.

Climbing food prices have fueled annual consumer inflation that reached 8 percent in September, its highest level for three years.

Price rises since President Vladimir Putin signed a decree halting EU and U.S. agricultural produce imports on Aug. 6. have been particularly rapid for meat, fish, dairy products and, despite a good harvest, fruit and vegetables.

The cost of meat and poultry jumped 16.8 percent in September, fish and seafood by 14.1 percent, dairy products by 16.2 percent and fruit and vegetables by 6.1 percent.

"Meat is very expensive," said pensioner Galina Maurova, who was shopping at budget supermarket Dixy on Monday.

Price rises have continued unabated this month.

Between Oct. 7 and Oct. 13 the cost of salami, sausages, hot dogs, tinned meat, smetana, milk, cheese and caramel has climbed by 0.4-0.6 percent, according to Russia's State Statistics Service. In the same period the price of cucumbers shot up 10.9 percent and tomatoes by 5.7 percent.

The effects of inflation, however, are not only being felt by those with limited budgets.

Browsing the shelves at an elite supermarket, Yury, 63, picked out fruit, vegetables, meat, and dairy products as the fastest price risers. But he was particularly horrified by the speed with which fish prices had shot up.

"The price of fish is monstrous," he said. "I am trying to decide how to change my shopping behavior."

Over 50 percent of middle-class Russians noticed either food price rises or a lack of goods on shop shelves between July and September, according to a survey by Sberbank CIB released earlier this month.

Even government ministers have commented on their rising food expenses. Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich, who said he goes shopping once a week, told reporters last month he was spending up to 20 percent more on food than at the beginning of the year.

Inflation remains a big concern for Russian people, many of whom remember watching with horror in the late 1990s as runaway price rises wiped out their savings. Russians picked inflation as the most serious problem for the country ahead of utility services, corruption and alcoholism in a survey published Aug. 12 by state-run pollster VTsIOM.

Food price rises have been the key factor behind inflation, but it has also been driven by a steady devaluation of the ruble.

The Russian currency repeatedly touched record lows this month, and has shed over 20 percent of its value against the dollar since the start of the year. The weak currency makes imports more expensive, increasing costs for Russian retailers.

Officials originally planned to bring inflation down 5 percent in 2014 — an increasingly distant goal as investors were spooked by the Kremlin's role in Ukraine and falling oil prices accelerated the ruble's tumble.

In a bid to rein in price rises, the Central Bank has hiked interest rates three times this year despite a flagging economy.

The state could impose price controls on 40 "socially important" goods if they rise in price by more than 30 percent, Trade and Industry Ministry Denis Manturov said in an interview with state-owned Rossiiskaya Gazeta published on Oct. 9.

Central Bank Chairman Elvira Nabiullina has said that inflation will be at least 8 percent this year, and some experts are predicting that consumer prices will continue to rise into 2015.

If the oil price trades between $90 and $95 a barrel then inflation will peak at 9 percent year-on-year in the first three months of 2015, analysts at VTB Capital said in Oct. 6 research note.

"We expect the effects from the food import ban to begin to dissipate from the second quarter next year," said Dmitry Polevoy, chief economist at ING in Moscow.

While inflation remains high, Abdullina in the budget supermarket said she will simply be buying less.

"I used to get two shopping bags of groceries. Now I just buy one," she said.

http://sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=41025

But who are you gonna believe: Russia's Deputy Prime Minister, its Central Bank Chairman, its State Statistics Service, Sberbank, and some shoppers, or Andrew?

[d672]

 Larry obviously that article is just propaganda orchestrated by the west. (Probably the US, but wait a bit and Andrew will clarify that for us) Somehow they paid off or bribed every source quoted there. After all, Andrew is never wrong and all knowing... don't you see that by now? 

[Larry]

Larry obviously that article is just propaganda orchestrated by the west. (Probably the US, but wait a bit and Andrew will clarify that for us) Somehow they paid off or bribed every source quoted there. After all, Andrew is never wrong and all knowing... don't you see that by now? 

My first thought was that perhaps our reading comprehension was faulty.   But your explanation is equally plausible. We must just wait and see what the explanation is.

[JayH]

[quote author=d672 link=topic=10054
 Larry obviously that article is just propaganda orchestrated by the west. (Probably the US, but wait a bit and Andrew will clarify that for us) Somehow they paid off or bribed every source quoted there. After all, Andrew is never wrong and all knowing... don't you see that by now? 
[/quote]

What do you mean?Are they are not aware no article has any cred without his input?

[JayH]

Well, now you are caught up with the real world again!

But don't make a habit of asking me for sources unless you want to pay for my time.

If we pass the hat around  will you f ...  off?

[NS1]

Larry obviously that article is just propaganda orchestrated by the west. (Probably the US, but wait a bit and Andrew will clarify that for us) Somehow they paid off or bribed every source quoted there. After all, Andrew is never wrong and all knowing... don't you see that by now? 

My first thought was that perhaps our reading comprehension was faulty.   But your explanation is equally plausible. We must just wait and see what the explanation is.

Come on guys you know your being slothful in your reading comprehension 

[Larry]

Larry obviously that article is just propaganda orchestrated by the west. (Probably the US, but wait a bit and Andrew will clarify that for us) Somehow they paid off or bribed every source quoted there. After all, Andrew is never wrong and all knowing... don't you see that by now? 

My first thought was that perhaps our reading comprehension was faulty.   But your explanation is equally plausible. We must just wait and see what the explanation is.

Come on guys you know your being slothful in your reading comprehension 

No.  Get it right.  It's slothful in our cognition.

[NS1]

Larry obviously that article is just propaganda orchestrated by the west. (Probably the US, but wait a bit and Andrew will clarify that for us) Somehow they paid off or bribed every source quoted there. After all, Andrew is never wrong and all knowing... don't you see that by now? 

My first thought was that perhaps our reading comprehension was faulty.   But your explanation is equally plausible. We must just wait and see what the explanation is.

Come on guys you know your being slothful in your reading comprehension 

No.  Get it right.  It's slothful in our cognition.

Sorry, my mistake, I thought we were slothful in everything 

[Dogsoldier]

The slothfulness is truly eyewatering.