MOSCOW, May 28 (RIA Novosti) - Inflation in Russia reached 7.5% from January 1 to May 26, compared to the government's target of 10.5% for the whole of 2008, the country's top statistics body Rosstat said on Wednesday.

As Russia continues to reap the benefits of high world oil prices amid a large influx of petrodollars, consumer price growth has proved to be a major problem for the Russian authorities.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told the government on Tuesday to keep inflation below 10.5% this year.

"The task of curbing inflation is now a key task for the government," Medvedev said.

The government failed to keep inflation within the target of 8% last year - the figure hit 11.9%, driven by high food and commodity prices.

Meanwhile, Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said inflation was expected to slow down by the end of the year and stay within the 10.5% range.

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