Currently, inflation in Russia in annual terms is 13.7% and its peak will occur in March 2015, head of the Ministry of Economic Development Alexey Ulyukaev said on Thursday.

“The peak will most likely be in March,” the TASS agency quotes him as saying . The minister refused to name the forecast for peak inflation in March.

Ulyukaev said that currently inflation in annual terms is 13.7% and the Ministry of Economic Development has not yet revised its inflation forecast. He refused to comment on Rosstat data that inflation in annual terms now reaches 15%, citing the fact that he had not seen this data. “Today inflation is 13.7% year on year,” noted the head of the Ministry of Economic Development.

On Thursday, February 5, Rosstat reported that monthly inflation in Russia has reached its highest since 1999. The increase in consumer prices in Russia in January 2015 compared to December 2014 amounted to 3.9%. In annual terms, the increase in consumer prices amounted to 15%, reaching the maximum value since 2008, Rosstat noted.

Chairman of the Central Bank Elvira Nabiullina in an interview with Forbes said that the Central Bank expects inflation to decline. “According to our estimates, quarterly inflation will be significantly lower in the second quarter of 2015, but the peak of annual growth rates due to the base effect will also occur in the second quarter. In the future, we forecast a slowdown in annual inflation. Considering that the prerequisites for reducing inflation have formed, and the risks for economic growth have increased, we decided to reduce the key rate,” Nabiullina said.

Read the interview with Elvira Nabiullina: “This is a challenge for our economy, and we must answer it”

Ulyukaev predicted peak inflation in March