The National Bank of Romania governor Mugur Isarescu, presents on Wednesday the quarterly Inflation Report.
According to National Institute of Statistics, in June this year, the annual inflation rate was 10.3 percent, slightly down from May (10.64 percent), given that food products rose by 17.88 percent, non-food products by 4.84 percent and services by 11.5 percent.
"The updated forecast reconfirms the prospect of a further decrease in the annual inflation rate over the next two years, on a slightly higher trajectory than previously forecasted only in the forecast horizon's middle segment. According to the prognosis, the annual inflation rate will fall to single-digit levels in the beginning of the third quarter of 2023 and close to the target range at the end of the projection horizon. The decrease will be further driven by supply-side factors, mainly disinflationary base effects and downward corrections of commodity quotations, joined by influences expected to come from the continued contraction of the aggregate demand surplus, albeit slower than in the previous projection," BNR said.
According to the central bank, the current perspective of inflation is marked by increased uncertainties, with the main short-term sources being the temporary capping of the trade mark-up to basic food products, but especially the fiscal measures that are expected to be implemented in order to increase budget revenues.
The BNR has revised upward the inflation forecast for the end of this year to 7.1 pct and maintained the estimate of 4.2 pct for the end of 2024, according to the data presented in May by the governor Mugur Isarescu.