Overview

• The Russian central bank’s 20 percent benchmark rate, set after a slight June cut from 21 percent, is deterring investment and inflating borrowing costs for businesses and households.
• Business Insider reports that lower industrial output in June has led many Russian factories to trim payrolls and curb procurement.
• Potato prices in Russia have jumped 160 percent year-on-year, transforming a staple into an unaffordable luxury for many consumers.
• The Vienna-based wiiw revised Ukraine’s 2025 growth forecast down to 2.5 percent with inflation at 16 percent as war-damaged infrastructure and mobilization-driven labor shortages weigh on activity.
• The European Union has raised transitional quotas for Ukrainian wheat, sugar and barley—including a 1.3 million-tonne wheat allocation—to preserve export flows, though national safeguards in some member states may limit shipments.