March annual inflation hits the highest level since August 2008

Newsroom 11/04/2011 | 20:38

Romanian consumer prices increased by 0.6 percent in March against the previous month, raising the annual inflation to 8.01 percent, the highest level since August 2008, according to data released by the Romanian Institute of Statistics. Overall, food prices went up by 1.2 percent on the month in March, while non-food prices increased by 0.5 percent and services posted a 0.3 percent price decrease compared to the previous month.

The price increase of potatoes (+6.59 percent compared to the previous month), fresh fruits (+5.26 percent) and fuels (+2.25 percent) were mostly responsible for the March inflation hike.

For 2011 the National Bank of Romania targets an annual inflation of 3 percent at the end of 2011, plus/minus one percentage point. BNR has recently raised the target on the year-end inflation to 3.6 percent. Central bank governor Mugur Isarescu announced last week that a second upward revision will most likely soon follow in the context of increasing international prices for food and fuels.

The International Monetary Fund has announced that it estimates Romania’s inflation at 4 percent at the end of 2011 according to the fund’s latest World Economic Outlook report. This level is also the upper limit of the central bank’s target for 2011.

Simona Bazavan