MOSCOW. Oct 25 (Interfax) - Russian inflation was 0.1% in the week October 17-23, the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) said.

Russia had zero inflation the previous six weeks, 0.1% deflation the week before that and 0.2% deflation the week prior to that. Prices were unchanged for the week August 15-21 and fell 0.1% for each of the three weeks prior to that, the first deflation since early August 2016.

When rounded, consumer prices rose 0.2% in the first 23 days of October and rose 1.9% between January 1 and October 23.

Russia had 0.1% deflation for the month of September after consumer prices fell by a record 0.5% in August. This was the first September deflation since 1997. It was also the first time in 20 years that consumer prices have fallen for two straight months - the first and so far the only time this has ever happened before was the period August-September 1997.

There was average daily price growth of 0.009% in the first 23 days of October. Average daily price growth was 0.020% in the equivalent period of October last year. On that basis and given that annualized inflation was 2.96% at the end of September, it follows that inflation in annual terms was below 2.7% - between 2.6% and 2.7% - as of October 23, which is more than a percentage point below the Central Bank