Romania’s inflation rate hits fresh 5-year record high of 5.2 percent in April

Romania’s annual inflation rate rose to 5.2 percent in April, a new record level since June 2013, energy prices increases having a large contribution to the evolution of consumer prices, National Institute of Statistics (INS) data show.

This was the biggest annual inflation rate since June 2013, when the inflation stood at 5.4 percent.

Compared with the same month of last year, the prices of food products rose by 4 percent on average, while non-food products increased by 7.2 percent. The prices of services went up by 2.8 percent.

Compared with March, the biggest price increases were recorded for natural gas (4.3 percent), fresh fruits (2.7 percent), tobacco products (2.4 percent) and fuels (1.6 percent).

The price of natural gas for households rose by 10.2 percent compared to December 2017.

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Annual inflation rate dropped to 7.2 percent in February

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The central bank has an inflation estimate of 3.6 percent for December 2018.

In March, Romania maintained its position as the country with the highest annual inflation rate among the European Union member states, of 4 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, shows a different picture.