Price rises exceeded projections, but prices are lower than last year, central bank

The consumer prices in January rose at a higher rate than projected, but are lower than in the same month last year, the National Bank of Moldova said, quoted by Info-Prim Neo. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, consumer prices rose by 2.8% during the last 12 months. The prices of food products fell by 0.6%, while of nonfood products and services increased by 4.1 and 4.5% respectively. The medium-term macroeconomic forecast made by the central bank anticipated an inflation rate of 1.9%-2.3% in January, for the last 12 months. The inflation rate for January this year published by the National Bureau of Statistics was by 0.5 percentage points higher than projected. This was mainly due to the rise in the prices of food products and fuels in the country and abroad and the developments in the national currency market. But these factors are seasonal and will not affect the general level of prices in the medium term. The National Bank says the prices of the food products in January this year were lower than in January last year. The prices of the public utilities and fuels contributed by 0.5 percentage points to the inflation for the last 12 months. The basic inflation in January 2010 for the last 12 months was 3.6% and was within the level of 3.3 – 3.7 projected by the central bank. For 2010, the National Bank forecast an inflation rate of 5 – 7%.