Indicators of inflation and evaluation of their influence on economy

Abstract

The paper examines theoretical and methodological issues of statistical analysis of the impact inflation has on economic development. Inflation is manifested in prices increase, erosion of Russian ruble purchasing power and emergence of inflationary tax paid by end consumers of goods and services to their manufacturers (suppliers) - corporations, businesses and organizations. This increases the level of taxes, whilst their coming to the state budget. The tax burden on the GDP is analyzed on the basis of official data on the income of the state budget and macroeconomic performance - within the SNA framework - in comparison with the performance of other countries. The distribution of the inflation tax on economic activities and sectors of the economy is shown. Inflation is one of the most important tools of self-regulation mechanism and can be regarded as a characteristic of the costs of maintaining economic stability. According to the author’s calculations, the inflation rate in Russia now is 2.5 to 3 times higher then that in the leading Western countries.