MOSCOW, March 20. /TASS/. Annual inflation will drop below 4% in months to come but will slightly grow in the second half of this year, the Bank of Russia said on Monday.

"According to the forecast of the Bank of Russia, the annual inflation indicator will temporarily decline below 4% on account of the effect of the high base of last spring. This metric will slightly grow in the second half of the year, as low values of monthly incremental growth of the second half of 2022 will leave the annual inflation calculation," the regulator said.

Consumer prices had an uptick by 0.46% in February 2023 (by 0.84% in January), the regulator informed. Annual inflation continued gearing down and totaled 10.99%.