Food prices rose 3.86%, non-food prices grew 7.82% and services prices climbed 2.58% year-on-year in June 2018.
The highest price increases, compared with early-2018, were recorded by vegetables and canned vegetables (11%), potatoes (11.5%), fruits (14.3), natural gas (10%), fuels (6%) and air transport (10%).
The annual inflation rate calculated based on the harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP) stood at 4.7% in June 2018. An annual inflation rate of 5.4% has not been registered since 2013.
The average inflation rate of the last 12 months (July 2017 – June 2018), compared with the previous 12 months (July 2016 – June 2017), calculated based on the consumer prices index (CPI), stands at 3.6%. The average inflation rate calculated based on the HICP stands at 2.9%.
On May 9, 2018, Romania’s central bank raised its year-end inflation forecast to 3.6% from a previous projection of 3.5% but kept its end-2019 inflation forecast at 3%.
Early February 2018, the central bank revised its inflation forecast upwards to 5% from 3.9% for the first two quarters of the year and to 3.5% for the end of the year, from a previous projection of 3.2%. It now sees December inflation at 3.6%, expecting it to hover around 5% in the second and third quarters and then easing in the fourth quarter.