MOSCOW: The proinflationary impact of aggregate demand on prices, increased logistics costs and several one-off factors, could delay a return of Russia's inflation to its 4% target until 2022, the central bank said in a report on Wednesday.

Annual inflation, which stood at 5.7% in February, was expected to slow down in April, the central bank said, thanks to the base effect and the diminishing impact of the weak rouble on prices.

It was increasingly likely that inflation would be close to the upper end of the bank's 3.7-4.2% forecast range by the end of 2021, the central bank said.