INS: Annual inflation rate goes up to 5 percent in March

The annual inflation rate went up to 5 percent in March 2018, from 4.7 percent in the previous month, on the grounds of non-food product prices going up by 6.57 percent, those of food products by 4.01 percent, and those of services by 2.9 percent.

A higher annual inflation rate was registered in June 2013, when consumer prices went up 5.37 percent.

Compared to February, consumer prices went up 0.3 percent, in the context in which prices of food products increased 0.48 percent, the non-food products advanced 0.15 percent, and services prices grew 0.30 percent.

"The average inflation rate over the past 12 months (April 2017 - March 2018) as against the previous 12 months (April 2016 - March 2017), calculated based on the CPI, stands at 2.5 percent. Determined based on the HCPI, the average inflation rate accounts for 1.9 percent," the INS notes.

In February this year, the National Bank of Romania (BNR) revised upwards to 3.5 percent, from 3.2 percent, the inflation forecast for the end of this year.

For the end of 2019, BNR estimates a 3.1 percent inflation rate.

According to BNR, the speeding up of the annual inflation rate in the first three quarters of 2018 is determined by those components of the consumption basket outside the monetary policy action area. The end of this inflation boom results in the indicator going back within the target interval starting with the last quarter of 2018.