Inflation Ticks Higher in Russia

“Russian inflation accelerated in April after slowing a month earlier, strengthening arguments to delay easing monetary policy.

Consumer prices rose 7.2 percent from a year earlier after a 7 percent advance in March, the Federal Statistics Service in Moscow said by e-mail today. That matches the median estimate of 24 economists in a Bloomberg survey. Prices increased 0.5 percent in the month, also in line with economist forecasts.

Policy makers led by outgoing central bank Chairman Sergey Ignatiev are waiting to see a sustained slowdown in inflation before cutting their main interest rates. Restraining inflation remains a priority and the government won’t compromise efforts to subdue price growth with economic stimulus, First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said April 18 in Moscow. The economy grew 2.1 percent in the last three months of 2012 from a year earlier, the slowest rate since a 2009 contraction….”

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