For 2017, the central bank revised its inflation forecast to 3.4%, he said.
“Excluding the initial impact of cuts in the value-added tax, inflation would have reached 3% in 2016 and 3.7% in 2017,” Isarescu said at the conference presenting the central bank’s quarterly inflation report.
The central bank expects inflation to remain in negative territory until May this year and sees it returning within its target of 2.5% plus/minus one percentage point in early 2017.
Inflation stood at -0.9% at the end of 2015, from -1.1% in November and a -1.87% low touched in August.
Back in November, in its previous quarterly inflation report, the central bank revised its inflation forecast to 1.1% this year from a previously estimated 0.7%.