November 8 (SeeNews) - Romania's central bank said on Thursday it is keeping its annual inflation forecast for 2018 at 3.5%, at the upper end of its target band of 1.5-3.5%.
The central bank, BNR, also said in its November inflation report it has raised its 2019 inflation forecast by 0.2 percentage points to 2.9%.
Possible slight upward revisions in the values projected for these intervals are associated with exogenous components of the consumer basket, mainly tobacco and volatile food prices, as well as higher fuel prices, BNR explained.
Romania's annual consumer price inflation decelerated to 5.0% in September from 5.1% in the previous month, according to the most recent data published by the office of national statistics.
On November 6, BNR maintained its monetary policy rate at 2.50%. On May 7, BNR increased its key rate to 2.50% from 2.25% - the third rate hike this year.
(1 euro=4.6630 lei)