The Kremlin insists that inflation does not exist in the Soviet Union, and there is no Western-style CPI to disprove the claim. Nonetheless, consumer prices are raised at times by state decree; the government represents those changes as progress toward a more rational ordering of the controlled economy. Last week such "progress" cost Soviet consumers dearly.
Coffee drinkers, a minority among tea-drinking Russians, suffered most. The price of a pound soared from $2.62 to $13. Gasoline doubled, to $1.30 per gal., and 4 million private car owners will also pay 30% more to get those autos serviced. Gold-jewelry prices leaped 60%, though...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
