Romania Inflation Hits 31-Month High In March

04.11.2011 By Florentina Dragu

Romanian consumer prices rose 0.6% in March from a month earlier, while the annual inflation accelerated to an unexpected 8.01%, the highest level since August 2008, the country’s statistics institute INS said Monday.

Romanian consumer prices rose 0.6% in March from a month earlier, while the annual inflation accelerated to an unexpected 8.01%, the highest level since August 2008, the country's statistics institute INS said Monday.

In February, the annual inflation came in at 7.6%.

Analysts estimated a monthly inflation of 0.5% in March, while the annual rate was predicted at 7.8%.

Food prices increased 1.2% on the month in March, while non-food prices were up 0.5%, the data showed. Prices in the services sector nudged down 0.3% compared with the previous month.

Romanians paid by 4.5% more for fresh and canned vegetables in March compared with a month earlier, while the cost of fresh fruit increased by 5.3%. In the non-food sector, fuel prices went up by 2.2% on the month, the data showed.

Romania's harmonized index of consumer prices, or HICP, rose to 6.8% at the end of March, from 6.5% the month before.

The central bank targets an annual inflation of 3% at the end of 2011, plus/minus one percentage point around the band. The bank recently revised upward its forecast on the year-end inflation to 3.6% and is expected to announce a second revision in the coming period, due to global surging prices for energy and food items.