May 11 (SeeNews) - 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, the National Bureau of Statistics, BNS, said on Wednesday.
The main inflation driver in April were food prices, which added 30.17% year-on-year, BNS said in a statement.
Prices of non-food products rose 19.13% on the year in April, while the cost of services increased by an annual 34.4%.
On a monthly comparison basis, Moldova's consumer prices rose 5.56% in April. Food prices rose 5.72%, while non-food prices were up by a monthly 1.61%. Consumer prices in the services sector added 11.13% month-on-month.
April inflation is the highest since October 1999, when Moldova recorded a 53.6% surge in consumer prices, data from the central bank BNM showed.
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 =19.8631 Moldovan lei)