Weekly inflation in Russia holds at 0.1%, annual just above target
MOSCOW. May 12 (Interfax) - Russia had 0.1% inflation for the week of May 3-10, the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) said.
Inflation was 0.1% the previous week also. It unexpectedly quickened to 0.2% the week before that, driven by higher fruit and vegetable prices. Weekly inflation had been 0.1% in each of the three weeks prior to that.
Inflation was 0.1% for the first 10 days of May and 1.4% since the start of the year.
Average daily price growth for the first 10 days of May was 0.013%, compared with 0.018% in the first 10 days of May 2016. Going by these figures, annual inflation has not yet fallen to the Central Bank's 4% target but is already below the 4.1% seen at the end of April.
Russian inflation accelerated to 0.3% in April from 0.1% in March 2017. In annual terms, inflation slowed to 4.1% in April, ever closer to the Central Bank's 4% target. Annual inflation was 4.3% in March, 4.6% in February, 5.0% in January and 5.4% in December.
In the past week, prices rose 0.3% for mutton and 0.2% for butter.
Fruit and vegetable prices averaged up 1.8%, including cabbage - 9.7%, onion - 7.5%, potatoes - 6.6% and carrots - 6.6%, while cucumbers fell 6.7%.
Eggs fell 3.0% in price, and sunflower oil, buckwheat and millet went down 0.3%-1.0%.
Gasoline and diesel prices went up 0.1%.
The Economic Development Ministry now forecasts that inflation will slow to 3.8% in 2017. Economic Development Minister Maxim Oreshkin has said the 4% target might be met as early as May.
Analysts said in a consensus forecast for Interfax in late April-early May that they thought inflation for 2017 might slow to 4.1%.
