Inflation in Russia in 2023 to fall closer to upper threshold of 7%-7.5% range - CBR dept

MOSCOW. Nov 29 (Interfax) - There is no acceleration of seasonally adjusted prices, and inflation in Russia will fall closer to the upper boundary of the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) 7%-7.5% forecast for October forecast, Alexander Morozov, director of the CBR's Department of Research and Forecasting, told reporters on the sidelines of a conference titled "Investments 2024 - ideas and strategies in a changing world".

"So far we see that inflation is proceeding close to the upper boundary of the forecast range of 7%-7.5%. Looking ahead, the seasonally adjusted rate of price growth, it is not accelerating. If we add the base effect, namely, in late November and December last year, the rate of price growth has already accelerated above the 4% trajectory, we should not expect a significant acceleration from the figure you mentioned - 7.4%. We proceed from [for 2023] the upper limit of our target range at the moment," Morozov said.

Annual inflation in Russia as of November 20, based on Rosstat data, accelerated to 7.37% from 7.27% on November 13 and 6.69% at the end of October, if calculated from weekly trends, and accelerated to 7.29% (from 7.16% on November 13), if calculated from daily average data for the whole of November 2022. The next weekly inflation data will be released on Wednesday.