Russian Unemployment Plunges to Lowest in at Least 13 Years

Russia’s unemployment rate fell to the lowest level in at least 13 years last month and retail-sales growth unexpectedly accelerated, supporting the central bank’s decision to leave borrowing costs unchanged.

The jobless rate dropped 0.4 percentage point to 5.4 percent, a level last seen four years ago and the lowest since at least 1999, the Moscow-based Federal Statistics Service said today in an e-mailed report. That’s less than the 5.7 percent median forecast of 12 economists in a Bloomberg survey.