Moldovan National Bank's inflation report shows consumer price index to decrease in 2018

Chisinau, 6 February /MOLDPRES/ – The annual inflation rate will diminish continuously, from 7.3 per cent in December 2017 to around 2.5 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2018. Subsequently, it will return within the range of ±1.5 percentage points from target 5.0 per cent in the second quarter of 2019, Deputy Governor of National Bank of Moldova (BNM), Vladimir Munteanu, said at presentation of Inflation Report №1 today.

BNM expects an average inflation rate of 3.7 per cent in 2018. It revised downward the inflation forecast for 2018 to 3.7 per cent, up from 4 per cent as predicted in Inflation Report №4, issued in November 2017.

"The decrease of inflation in 2018 will be mainly due to regulated prices and food prices," said Vladimir Munteanu. Forecasting economic growth in the eurozone was 2.2 per cent, in Russia – 1.9 per cent, a dollar exchange rate against the euro of 1.2, a rise in the price of Ural oil with fish 26 per cent, while food getting cheaper.

Deputy Governor of BNM specified that price evolution deviated in 2017 around  0.2 percentage points from forecast inflation of 7.3 per cent estimated in Inflation Report №4. Similarly, deviations in food price index were plus 0.6 percentage points, while regulated prices were 0.3 percentage points lower than anticipated by BNM and and for fuel 0.5 smaller.

(Reporter V. Bercu, editor M. Jantovan)