Russia annual inflation rate accelerated to 2.5% in May, up from 2.3% in April, marking an end to a year-long period of decline and surpassing expectations of a 2.4% rate. The primary drivers of this increase were a pick-up in services inflation to 11% from 9.4% in the previous month and a 0.2% increase in non-food prices following a 0.3% decrease in the prior month. Conversely, food prices dropped by 1% after remaining stable in the previous period. Core inflation rose at a faster pace to 2.1% from 2.0% in April.