Belarus had the third highest rise in consumer prices among the post-Soviet countries in the first eight months of 2009, according to a BelaPAN survey of the countries' official data.
Belarus had the highest increase of 6.1 percent in the first quarter of the year. Ukraine took the unenviable lead after the first four months and Russia got ahead of Belarus after June.
During the eight-month period, consumer prices reportedly increased by 8.2 percent in Ukraine, 8.1 percent in Russia, 7.5 percent in Belarus, 4.3 percent in Kazakhstan, 4.0 percent in Tajikistan, 2.0 percent in Armenia, 1.4 percent in Lithuania, and 0.4 percent in Latvia.
Consumer prices reportedly fell by 3.4 percent in Moldova, 2.2 percent in Azerbaijan, 2.1 percent in Georgia, 1.9 percent in Kyrgyzstan, and 1.3 percent in Estonia.
In Uzbekistan, consumer prices reportedly rose by 3.6 percent in the first six months. No data were available for Turkmenistan.
In August, consumer prices reportedly fell by 1.1 percent in Moldova, 1.0 percent in Kyrgyzstan and Latvia, 0.4 percent in Armenia, and 0.2 percent in Belarus, Lithuania and Ukraine. The prices did not change in Russia and rose by 0.02 percent in Georgia, 0.1 percent in Azerbaijan, 0.2 percent in Kazakhstan, and 0.9 percent in Tajikistan. No data were available for Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.
