Romania’s annual inflation rate has slightly declined to 5 percent in September, from 5.1 percent in August, mainly due to rising food prices, National Institute of Statistics (INS) data show.
In May and June, Romania posted the biggest annual inflation rate since February 2013, of 5.4 percent, but the consumer prices index declined to 4.6 percent in July.
Despite expectations, inflation in Romania has entered a new rising phase in August and September, with consumer prices’ annual index remaining above 5 percent.
Compared with September 2017, the prices of food products rose by 4.4 percent on average, while non-food products increased by 6.6 percent. The prices of services went up by 2.5 percent.
Compared with August, consumer prices in Romania increased by 0.5 percent, as food prices rose by 0.8 percent, while non-food products’ prices went up by 0.3 percent, and services’ prices rose by 0.3 percent.
The biggest price increases compared with August were recorded for potatoes (19.2 percent) and other vegetables (6.5 percent), while the biggest monthly price decreases were registered for fresh fruits (-5.9 percent).
The price of natural gas for households rose by 16.6 percent compared to December 2017.
The central bank has an inflation estimate of 3.5 percent for December 2018.
Romania is the country with the highest annual inflation rate among the European Union member states, of 4.7 percent measured by Harmonised Indices of Consumer Prices (HICP) in August, according to Eurostat.
The HICP index used by Eurostat measure price with a unified basket of consumer products and services for the 28 EU 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.