MOSCOW--Russia's consumer inflation will exceed earlier expectations but there is no need to keep interest rates at high levels for long time, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said Thursday, Interfax news agency reported.

In an attempt to save the ruble from falling and to tame inflation, the central bank jacked up the key interest rate by 6.5 percentage points to 17% last week. The move sent interbank overnight lending rates toward 25% from around 11% earlier this month.

Mr. Siluanov said the government together with the central bank will work on ways to lower lending rates for key sectors and companies in the economy.

Mr. Siluanov also said that 2014 consumer inflation is set to reach 11.5%, nearly doubling the central bank's initial inflation ceiling of 6.5%.

Write to Andrey Ostroukh at andrey.ostroukh@wsj.com