Romania’s annual inflation rate remained flat at 5.4 percent in June, a 5-year high, as the summer food price effect calmed down consumer prices, National Institute of Statistics (INS) data show.
In May, Romania posted the biggest annual inflation rate since February 2013, of 5.41 percent.
Compared with the same month of last year, the prices of food products rose by 3.9 percent on average, while non-food products increased by 7.8 percent. The prices of services went up by 2.6 percent.
Compared with May, the biggest price increases were recorded for citrus (1.4 percent), while the biggest price decreases were registered for potatoes (-6.9 percent) and fresh fruits (-3.4 percent).
The price of fuels rose by 6.2 percent compared to December 2017.
The central bank has an inflation estimate of 3.6 percent for December 2018.
In April, Romania maintained its position as the country with the highest annual inflation rate among the European Union member states, of 4.6 percent measured by Harmonised Indices of Consumer Prices (HICP), according to Eurostat.
The HICP index used by Eurostat measure price with an unified basket of consumer products and services for the 28 member states.
But the Romanian basket of consumer products and services, which includes a higher percentage of food products (33.2 percent of total basket), shows a different picture.