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New food and fuel price hikes push inflation to 8.61 pc in June

Compared to last month, the prices of foodstuffs have risen by an average of 0.32 pc, the services by 0.19 pc and the non-food merchandise by 0.28 pc, INS informs.

The hike in consumer prices has slowed down to 0.28 per cent in June, so that the annual inflation rate has reached a level of 8.61 per cent, with the steepest hike being registered by food products and especially by fresh fruits, according to the data of the National Statistics Institute (INS). The hike registered in June was inferior to the one registered in May back when the prices grew by 0.49 per cent. The rhythm was faster in April too, with a level of 0.52 per cent. The annual inflation rate of 8.61 per cent was nevertheless higher than the one registered in May (8.46 per cent) and approached the maximum inflation rate registered in the last two years (8.63 per cent - a level registered in March). In June the prices of foodstuffs grew by 0.32 per cent, the prices of non-food merchandise by 0.28 per cent and those of services by 0.19 per cent. Fresh fruits registered the most significant price hike (7.77 per cent) within the group of foodstuffs. The price of bread, the staple item in the foodstuffs group, has climbed by 0.16 per cent, while that of meat grew by 0.72 per cent, mainly on the backdrop of a 1.96 per cent hike in the price of pork and of a 1.1 per cent hike in the price of beef. Fuels registered the most important price hike (1.26 per cent) within the non-food merchandise group, while the price of drugs dropped by 0.04 per cent. The average monthly inflation rate registered a level of 0.6 per cent in the first five months of the year, compared to a 0.3 per cent level registered in the same period last year. Likewise, save the vegetables, fruits, eggs, fuels and products whose prices are regulated, the consumer price index (CPI) would have stood at 0.27 per cent. The inflation rate in June was in line with the estimates issued by several economic analysts that forecast values ranging from 8.5 per cent to 8.9 per cent. The analysts pointed out that the inflation rate will maintain a high level in June and in July, a month in which it will reach its apex this year, due to the hike of regulated prices. The inflation rate is set to follow a downward trend starting in August, the prices of foodstuff being a support for that. In May, National Bank of Romanian Governor Mugur Isarescu stated that the inflation rate will stay outside the target until the Q1 of 2009, but it will enter a fairly steep downward trend starting this autumn. Dynamic of exports, better than that of imports The trade deficit has grown by 10.74 per cent to EUR 8.75 bln in the first five months of the year, compared to the same period last year, with the dynamic of exports being better than that of imports, thus continuing the trend that started at the end of last year, according to INS. Expressed in the national currency, the value of the trade deficit has reached a level of RON 32.11 bln, climbing by 17.21 per cent compared to the level registered in January–May 2007. The exports have climbed by 17.2 per cent to EUR 13.69 bln and the imports by 14.6 per cent to EUR 22.45 bln. Expressed in national currency, the value of imports reached a level of RON 50.21 bln, climbing by 28 per cent compared to the first five months of 2007, while the imports have climbed by 25.2 per cent to RON 82.32 bln. The lowest level in the last year, analysts say “We noticed that the prices of food have registered the biggest growth. As a whole, this appears explainable, but in detail the behaviour of the fresh fruit, which registered an increase of 7.7 per cent, is questionable. Anyway, as a whole, the evolution of the prices in June, in monthly terms, is slightly debatable,” declared for Mediafax the senior economist of BRD-Groupe Societe Generale, Florian Libocor. The evolution of the fruit prices is considered unexplainable by the chief of the research department of Raiffeisen Bank, Ionut Dumitru, but the senior economist of the Romanian Commercial Bank, Lucian Anghel, considers that a possible explanation is connected with the fact that the prices of the early fruit from the domestic production which appeared on the market, such as apricots, cherries, water melons, are generally very high. In the opinion of BCR economist, the positive element from July could be the appreciation of the RON in relation with the European currency. At the same time, Ciprian Dascalu, trader with Millennium Bank Romania, estimates that the evolution of fruit prices was determined by the anticipations of the market. Sursa: http://www.nineoclock.ro

Tags: registered imports price level prices inflation compared bcr brd

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