October 2 (SeeNews) - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Tuesday it sees Romania's 2007 inflation rate at close to five percent and the current account gap widening to 14% of gross domestic product (GDP) versus its previous forecast of 11.5%.
“Inflation picked up quite abruptly in August, mainly due to the drought. Inflation can be close to five percent,” the head of the IMF’s delegation to Romania, Albert Jaeger, told a news conference.
The Romanian central bank (BNR), which switched to direct inflation targeting in 2005, has set its inflation target for this year in a range from 3.0% to 5.0%.
The European Union newcomer's monthly consumer price inflation rate speeded up to 0.86% in August from 0.29% in July. On an annual basis, inflation quickened to 4.96% in August from 3.99% a month earlier and 4.87% in December 2006.
“We, in our medium term projection, would say that the current account deficit will come down,” Jaeger said but did not elaborate. Romania’s current account gap was 10.3% of GDP last year.