The annual inflation rate may grow to 4% by mid-2018, driven by increases in excise duties and administered prices, Raiffeisen Bank chief-economist Ionut Dumitru said on Friday, reports local Profit.ro.

The recent rise in interbank interest rates has been caused by the state's influence on the liquidity in the system, as well as price increases, Dumitru added.

"In less than one year, we’ll move from an inflation below 1% to one over 4%,” Dumitru said.

The 3-month ROBOR level (ROBOR 3M), which most banks use in their lending contracts, reached 1.8% on Tuesday, October 3, double the level registered at the beginning of September. It was the highest level since November 2014. It then went down a bit, to 1.78%, as the central bank decided to pump more liquidity into the market.

The inflation rate will reach 2.4% by the end of this year, according to Raiffeisen Bank. It will then jump to 3.5% by the end of the first quarter in 2018, exceeding 4% in June 2018.

The ROBOR level could exceed 2% in mid-2018, the Raiffeisen Bank expert predicted.

editor@romania-insider.com