Romania posts EU's highest annual inflation rate in February

Romania posts EU’s highest annual inflation rate in February

Romania posted the highest annual inflation rate among the European Union member states in February, of 3.8 percent measured by Harmonised Indices of Consumer Prices (HICP), Eurostat data showed on Friday.

“The highest annual rates were recorded in Romania (3.8%), Estonia and Lithuania (both 3.2%). Compared with
January, annual inflation fell in eighteen Member States, remained stable in two and rose in seven,” EU’s statistical office said.

The HICP index used by Eurostat measure price with an unified basket of consumer products and services.

But the Romanian basket of consumer products and services, which includes a higher percentage of food products, shows a different picture.

According to National Institute of Statistics (INS) data released on Tuesday, the annual inflation rate, measuring the evolution of consumption prices in the last year, climbed to 4.72 percent in February, a record level since 2013.

In February, the food items became more expensive by 3.74 percent in average compared with February 2017, the non-food prices climbed by 6.27 percent and the services prices increased by 2.92 percent.

The highest prices increases were registered in February, compared with January, in citrus (5.98 percent), fresh fruits (3.54 percent) and other vegetables and vegetable cans (2,17 percent), official data show.