In 2014, the annual inflation rate dropped to a post-communist era low of 0.8%.
Prices of both food products and services went up 0.6% on the month in January, while non-food items were by 0.2% more expensive, the data showed.
Romanians paid 4.5% more for vegetables in January compared with a month earlier, fresh fruit prices increased 2.7%, while the price of eggs went up 1.2%. In the non-food sector, prices of fuels were down 2.5% on the month, but the electricity cost rose 4.75%. Among prices of services, healthcare became 1.9% more expensive, while utility costs increased 1% compared with December.
Compared with January 2014, food product prices went down 0.7%, but the prices of non-food items and services rose 0.6% and 2.2%, respectively.
The central bank has recently reduced its inflation expectations for this year to a rate of 2.1% at the end of the year, from 2.2% previously seen. The lower price growth is due to the “steeper year-on-year drop in volatile prices”, mainly on account of the oil price decline, the persistence of the negative output gap, and the weak economic recovery and subdued inflation in Europe.