Central bank decreases projected inflation for this year

The forecast inflation rate for 2012 was diminished from 6.5% to 4.9%. The inflation for 2013 was projected at 4.8%, the National Bank governor Dorin Dragurtanu told a news conference, quoted by Info-Prim Neo. Among the main factors that led to the revision of the forecast are the lower growth rate of the prices of food products on the international market, the slowdown in the rise in prices regulated by the state, the stabilization of world prices of energy resources, and the measures to stimulate demand on the home market taken by the central bank and other institutions. “We anticipated that disinflation process that started earlier and more perceptibly than we expected. The Central Bank decreased the base rate by 0.5% in November, by 1% in December and by 2% in January. Thus, the base rate over the last three months was reduced from 10% to 6.5%,” said the governor. Analyzing the internal and external risks, the National Bank predicted that the economic growth in 2012 will be lower than the projected one of 4%. Dorin Dragurtanu said the presenter situation requires increased prudence on the part of all the decision makers dealing with macroeconomic stability policies and measures to combat the negative effects on the economic activity and to stimulate internal demand.