Putin: Inflation in Russia could drop to 5% or slightly less in Q1 2023

MOSCOW. Nov 8 (Interfax) - Inflation in Russia is maintaining a steady trend toward decline and could fall to 5% or slightly less year-on-year in the first quarter of 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting on supporting the incomes of families with children.

"We truly have, I want to underline this again, in the opinion of all experts and the government, a trend toward declining inflation that is stable, and specialists believe that somewhere in the first quarter of next year, it should come close to somewhere around 5%, maybe even slightly less," Putin said.

Putin was commenting on inflation trends in the context of the necessity of increasing household incomes. "We need for salaries to outpace price growth," Putin said, noting that "the growth rates for salaries still lag somewhat behind price growth nonetheless." "We expect that as inflation declines, and such a trend has been recorded over recent months, the picture will change, and it should change for the better," he said.

The Economic Development Ministry's forecast for inflation is 12.4% in 2022 and 5.5% in 2023. The Central Bank expects inflation of 12%-13% in 2022 and 5%-7% in 2023.