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Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine might just make Russians thirsty.
Russia’s alcohol-producers lobby has asked Finance Minister Anton Siluanov to increase vodka’s minimum price by 7 percent to cope with rising costs linked to Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, reports show.
The proposal from the Union of Alcohol Producers, reported Thursday by Russian business daily Kommersant, would put floor retail prices for Russians’ favorite tipple at 602 rubles per liter — €5.80 — from 2024.
To justify the surge, alcohol-makers cite rising import prices and logistical costs linked to the ruble’s devaluation, as well as a planned increase on an excise tax on vodka.
Currently under consideration by the finance ministry, the producers’ plea is likely to be accepted by the authorities, Kommersant reports, citing “two sources in the [alcohol] industry.”
Under heavy international sanctions, Russia’s increasingly isolated economy is also grappling with a crumbling currency and soaring prices, with annual inflation standing at 6 percent.
In August, the Russian central bank moved to increase its key interest rates by a hefty 3.5 percentage points to 12 percent, in a hurried attempt to boost the ruble.
