MOSCOW, August 11 (RIA Novosti) - Prices for petroleum products are growing slower than the inflation rate in 2005, an official in the Ministry of Industry and Energy said Thursday.
Anatoly Yanovsky, the head of the ministry's fuel and energy department, said producers' average prices in January-July 2005 increased by 3.1%, with diesel prices up 10%. The retail price of low-octane and high-octane fuel grew by 4% and 5% respectively through the same period.
In the same period, the inflation rate increased by 8.5 % year on year.
Yanovsky said that growth in oil production in Russia had been dropping year on year, as oil companies did not have the funds to step up production, mainly due to what the official described as an "excessive fiscal burden."
