February 11 (SeeNews) - Moldova posted an annual consumer price inflation of 2.2% in January, up from 0.9% in the previous month, the National Bureau of Statistics, BNS, said on Monday.
The main inflation driver in January were food prices, which rose 3% year-on-year, BNS said in a statement.
Prices of non-food products rose by 3% on the year in January, while services depreciated by 0.3%.
Month-on-month, Moldova's consumer prices rose by 1.3% in December. Food price rose by 1.7%, while non-food prices rose 1.5%. Consumer prices in the services sector rose by 0.2% month-on-month.
Moldova’s central bank, BNM, lowered its 2018 inflation projection by 0.1 percentage points to 3.3% in November. In 2019, consumer prices in Moldova are expected to rise by 5.4%. BNM targets inflation of 5.0% plus or minus 1.5 pp.
On February 6, BNM decided to maintain its key rate at 6.5%, striving to keep inflation close to the target level.
BNM last revised its key monetary policy rate in December 2017, lowering it by 0.5% to 6.5%.
(1 euro= 19.3732 Moldovan lei)