Consumer prices rose 0.19% in the week to May 2, Rosstat said, compared with a 0.10% rise the previous week. Since the start of the year, prices have risen 2.18%, Rosstat said, a slower pace than in the same period of 2022.
In a separate set of data published on Thursday, Russia's economy ministry said inflation was running at 2.42% on an annual basis, down from 2.55% a week ago. Russia began experiencing double-digit annual inflation soon after it sent its armed forces into Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, eliciting sweeping Western sanctions.
After those high prices of last year, annual inflation dropped below the bank's 4% target in March and April 2023, but price rises are set to quicken later in the year. Russian households regularly cite inflation as their main concern, with many having no savings after a decade of economic crises and rising prices dragging down living standards. Russia's annual inflation rate in 2022 was 11.9%. The central bank forecasts inflation will drop to 4.5%-6.5% this year, before falling further to 4% in 2024. (Reporting by Darya Korsunskaya and Alexander Marrow; editing by Kevin Liffey and Mark Heinrich)
