Russia February inflation to ease to 1.3%: ministry

MOSCOW: Russia's monthly inflation rate is expected to slow down to 1.3 percent in February after an unexpected jump last month, Russia's minister of economic development Elvira Nabiullina said Thursday.

"There is a working estimate of 1.3 percent," she told reporters.

The ministry has no plans to change the inflation estimate of 6-7 percent in 2011, she added.

The monthly inflation rate rose sharply in January from December to 2.4 percent, higher than the ministry's forecast of 2.1 percent, stoking worries about a sustained jump in the price of basic foodstuffs.

The central bank attributed the high inflation to rising food prices in the wake of Russia's 2010 summer drought and poor harvest.

The World Bank has said that inflation would likely hold above 8.0 percent in 2011.