Consumer prices rose by 0.5 pc in April, taking the annual inflation rate from 8.01 pc in March to 8.2 pc last month, according to estimations made by the Romanian Association of Financial and Banking Analysts (AAFBR), quoted by Mediafax. The members of the Association have revised upward, for the third month in a row, the inflation forecast for the end of 2011, from 4.8 pc to 5.3 pc.
For the year-end, the economists see the annual inflation rate ranging between 5 pc and 5.9 pc, with an average of 5.3 pc. The inflation forecast for the end of 2011 is higher than last month (4.8 pc), but also than the previous month (4.5 pc). Analysts also changed their estimations for the inflation at the end of this year, which now oscillates between 3.6 pc and 5 pc, with an average 4.5 pc. The annual inflation rate went up from 7.6 pc in February to 8.01 pc – the highest level after August 2008. An annual inflation of 8.2 pc would represent the maximum recorded after July 2008, when inflation reached 9.04 pc.