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Inflation stood at around 17 percent in early 2015, but Russia
has since reined in consumer prices, bringing annual inflation
down to a post-Soviet low of around 4 percent.
Kristalina Georgieva, the World Bank's chief executive officer,
said keeping inflation low was important to give Russia's middle
class the confidence and ability to spend more.
The World Bank sees Russia's gross domestic product growing by
1.3 percent in 2017 and 1.4 percent in 2018 and expects annual
inflation to stabilize close to the central bank's target of 4
percent.
Georgieva said Russia also needed to ensure overall
macroeconomic stability, pay attention to major social issues,
and boost competitiveness if it wanted to grow the economy.
Georgieva, who served as the World Bank's director for Russia in
the mid-2000s, was speaking to Reuters on the sidelines of an
economic forum in St Petersburg.
(Reporting by Andrey Ostroukh; Editing by Andrew
Osborn/Alexander Winning)
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