Russia's Monthly Inflation Creeps Up for the First Time in 6 Months
Russia’s monthly inflation inched up in May, marking the first acceleration in six months, though annual inflation fell over the same period.
Consumer prices rose 0.43% last month, up slightly from 0.4% in April, according to data released by the state statistics agency Rosstat.
Economists had widely forecast a continued slowdown in price growth, with most estimates pointing to a monthly rise between 0.22% and 0.25%.
Annual inflation, seen as a more stable indicator of price changes, slowed to 9.8% in May from 10.2% in April. That figure suggests the annual inflation rate is gradually falling back toward the Central Bank’s target of 4%.
However, after this year’s uptick in inflation — 1.2% in January and 0.8% in February — the Central Bank now expects price growth to fall to 7-8% by year’s end, delaying the 4% goal until 2026.
Analysts at the research firm Tverdye Tsifry estimate the seasonally adjusted annualized rate at 5.4% in May, slightly below April’s 5.5%. Gazprombank offered a similar estimate, though it had previously put April’s rate at 6.2%.
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