Russia to see 0.5%-0.6% inflation in July
MOSCOW. July 23 (Interfax) - Russia will post inflation of 0.5%-0.6% in July, Deputy Economic Development Minister Andrei Klepach told journalists on Thursday.
"Almost like in June - 0.5%-0.6%," he said.
The Economic Development Ministry does not expect the country to see deflation in August, he said. "I don't think there will be deflation. We usually have deflation in September," he said.
Klepach did not reply to a question about whether the ministry expects consumer prices to decline in September.
Russia had inflation of 0.4% from July 1 to 20 and 7.9% since the start of the year versus 9.3% in the same period of 2008. Inflation totaled 0.5% in July 2008.
The Economic Development Ministry's revised forecast is for inflation of 12%-12.5% in 2009. Analysts told Interfax in a consensus forecast at the end of June that they thought inflation this year will equal 12.1%.
President Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday that inflation could total 10%-11% in 2009.
Russia had 13.3% inflation in 2008, the highest yearly rate since the 15.1% recorded in 2002.