MOSCOW - The inflation rate will be about 11 percent in Russia in 2004, and the corresponding figure for 2005 will be 8 percent, Central Bank Senior Deputy Chairman Alexey Ulyukayev declared at a news conference in Moscow. According to the official, it will be impossible to keep the inflation rate within 10 percent, as it was planned earlier, due to short-term local factors rather than fundamental economic factors. "However, we will not revise the estimate for inflation for 2005, and it remains at 8 percent," Ulyukayev pointed out.

Additionally, the Central Bank representative remarked that the real efficient exchange rate of the ruble would grow by not more than 7 percent in 2004. The rate of the ruble's strengthening will most likely be 5-6 percent, Ulyukayev emphasized.