Romania's consumer price index increased by 3.4% in November compared to same month last year (in y/y terms) and the annual inflation thus eased from 4.3% y/y in October and 5.0% y/y in September.

The prices of non-food goods posted the highest annual advance (4.2% y/y), followed by more moderate 2.9% y/y rise in the average price of food products and even smaller advance (2.5% y/y) of the fees paid by households for services.

The headline inflation thus entered the 2.5%+/-1pp inflation band targeted by the monetary authority.

On the short term, consumer prices edged down by 0.13% in October, compared to September (m/m terms).

Under the latest quarterly inflation report, the central bank said in early November that the annual inflation rate "is expected to decline further towards the upper bound of the (2.5% +/-1pp) variation band of the target in December 2018", before dropping and remaining in the upper half of the band until the end of the eight-quarter forecast horizon.

editor@romania-insider.com

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