May 13 (SeeNews) - Moldova's central bank on Friday increased its 2022 inflation projection to 27.3% to from 18.8% estimated in February, due to the economic impact of the war in Ukraine and after-shocks of the pandemic.
Over the next period, the upward trajectory of the annual CPI rate will continue in the context of rising food and other commodity prices in the regional market, the central bank, BNM, said in a press release on Friday.
A major impact on the CPI is due to the full reflection of tariff adjustments by the statistics office in the first half of 2022, it added. Also, increased tariffs on gas, heat and electricity, further increase in gas import prices, and possible increases in other tariffs will lead to price pressures on several sub-components of the CPI, the central bank noted.
BNM expects the annual inflation rate to increase until the third quarter of this year, after which it will follow a downward trend towards the end of the forecast horizon. In the second quarter of 2022, the inflation rate will continue to be above the upper limit of the range, and will return to the range only in the last quarter of the forecast.
In 2023, inflation is expected to slow to 16.5%, BNM said.
Moldova's consumer prices rose to a 23-year high of 27.07% year-on-year in April, compared to an increase of 22.16% in the previous month, according to the latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics.
On May 5, BNM decided to raise its policy rate to 15.5% from 12.5% in order to temper the rise in consumer prices and to mitigate risks stemming from the war in Ukraine.
(1 euro = 19.7437 Moldovan lei)