The annual inflation rate in the European Union rose to 2.7% in May, from 2.6% in April, while Romania is, for the fifth month in a row, the country with the highest inflation in the EU bloc, shows the data published on Tuesday by the European Statistical Office (Eurostat). In May, the EU member states with the lowest annual inflation rates were Lithuania (0%), Finland (0.4%) and Italy (0.8%). At the opposite pole, the EU member countries with the highest inflation rates were Romania (5.8%), Belgium (4.9%) and Croatia (4.3%). Compared to April 2024, the annual inflation rate decreased in 17 member states, including Romania, from 6.2% to 5.8%, remained stable in two countries and increased in 14 member states. In the euro zone, the annual inflation rate stood at 2.6% in May, up from 2.4% in April. Eurostat data show that core inflation, i.e. what remains after the prices for volatile goods such as energy and food are removed, rose to 2.9% in May, from 2.8% in April. Another indicator that, in addition to energy and food prices, also excludes cigarette and alcohol prices, rose to 2.9% in May, from 2.7% in April. Core inflation is the indicator closely followed by the ECB when elaborating its monetary policy decisions. In the case of Romania, the National Institute of Statistics (INS) previously informed that the annual inflation rate dropped, in May 2024, to 5.12%, from 5.9% in April, under conditions in which food commodities they increased in price by 1.24%, non-food by 6.38%, and services by 9.29%.
Romania’s prime minister Ilie Bolojan reportedly opposes the idea of further prolonging the price-capping mechanism introduced in August 2023 and repeatedly extended so far, according to Ziarul Financiar. Ambiguous statements over the weekend indicated an incipient conflict among the ruling coalition’s...
Several thousand civil servants rallied in Bucharest on September 15 to oppose government reform plans that would reduce public administration staff, Radio Romania Actualități reported. Protesters gathered in Victoriei Square before marching to the Palace of Parliament,...
A memorandum establishing a new stock exchange in the Republic of Moldova was signed on September 15 in Chișinău, with the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) set to play a key role as shareholder and technology partner, according to Bursa.ro. The new Moldovan exchange will run...
The “service pensions”, also known as special pensions, paid to civilians (military not included in the report), cost the state budget and the state social insurance budget a total of RON 2.2 billion in 2024, over 22% more than in 2023,
The Czech company Tesla has officially announced to the government and local authorities that it is abandoning the project to build the energy storage factory in Brăila, an investment of EUR 90 million that was also to receive state aid, according to
Romanian households' purchasing power has deteriorated in July, both as a result of slower nominal advance (+5.2% y/y, the weakest in four years) but also because of a sharp rise in inflation (7.68% y/y) following the VAT rate hike, according to data published by the statistics office INS. The average net wage dropped by 3.0% […]
