The inflation rate rose to 5.32% at the end of May, from 5.29% in the twelve months through April, the statistics institute INS said.
Consumer price inflation inched up 0.2% on the month in May, after a 0.1% increase a month earlier. Food prices increased 0.8% month-on-month, but non-food prices edged down 0.1%, the data showed.
Service prices were roughly unchanged from April.
Romanians paid by 21.4% more for potatoes in May compared with the previous month, while fresh fruit prices increased by 11.4%.
In the non-food sector, fuel prices declined 1% on a monthly basis in May, while the cost of cars and car parts decreased by 1.2%. Rent prices edged down 0.2% month-on-month, while telephony tariffs fell 1%.
The country’s harmonized index of consumer prices, or HICP, edged up to 4.3% at the end of May, from 4.1% the month before.
Romanian central bank targets an annual inflation of 2.5% at the end of 2013, plus/minus one percentage point around the band.
Last month, the bank revised downward its inflation forecast for 2013 to 3.2% from 3.5% previously, citing a smaller inflationary impact of fuel and volatile prices.