Romania recaptures the first place in the EU in terms of inflation

Romania retakes in November the first position in the European Union in terms of inflation, with an annual inflation rate of 3.2 percent measured by Harmonised Indices of Consumer Prices (HICP), Eurostat data showed on Monday.

Romania has posted the highest inflation rate in the EU for eight months in a row until September, but has ceded the first place to Estonia in October.

“The highest annual rates were recorded in Estonia, Hungary and Romania (all 3.2 percent). Compared with October 2018, annual inflation fell in twenty-five member states, remained stable in one and rose in one,” EU’s statistical branch said.

The HICP index used by Eurostat measure price with a 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, shows a different picture.

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Annual inflation rate dropped to 7.2 percent in February

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According to National Institute of Statistics (INS) data, the annual inflation rate, measuring the evolution of consumption prices in the last year, declined to 3.4 percent in November, from 4.3 percent in October, mainly due to food prices’ decline and Black Friday effect.

Compared with November 2017, the prices of food products rose by 2.9 percent on average, while non-food products increased by 4.2 percent. The prices of services went up by 2.5 percent.

Compared with October, consumer prices in Romania declined by 0.1 percent, as food prices decreased by 0.3 percent, while non-food products’ prices went down by 0.1 percent, and services’ prices rose by 0.1 percent.