November 5 (SeeNews) - Romania's central bank, BNR, has raised its annual inflation forecast for 2007 by 1.8 percentage points to 5.7%, beyond its target band, and has revised upward its end-2008 inflation projection to 4.3% from an earlier 3.7%, BNR's governor Mugur Isarescu said on Monday.
In August BNR projected end-2007 inflation of 3.9% and an inflation of 3.7% for end-2008. BNR, which switched to direct inflation targeting in 2005, has put its inflation target for this year in a range from 3.0% to 5.0%.
The BNR has revised its 2007 and 2008 inflation forecasts due to the more severe than expected effects of this summer’s drought, significant rise of the international prices of cereals, the correction of the exchange rate of the Romanian currency, and the deteriorating inflation expectations, Isarescu told a news conference presenting BNR's quarterly inflation report.
BNR has confirmed its 2007, 2008 and 2009 inflation targets at 4.0%, 3.8% and 3.5%, respectively, with a target band of one percentage point.