OREANDA-NEWS. August 09, 2011. The inflation rate in 2011 will be maintained at 8.4 percent, forecast last May, Governor of the National Bank of Moldova (BNM), Dorin Dragutanu, told news conference held on the occasion of launching the third inflation report.

In the second quarter of 2011, the inflation's annual pace recorded an ascendant evolution, standing at 7.7 percent last June. This rate was, to a great extent, in line with a short-term forecast of the inflation, published in the report on inflation, the last report says. The inflation's annual pace has one figure; this is the inflation's medium-term objective, stipulated in the monetary policy strategy for 2010-2012.

The increase of food products' prices, regulated prices, fuel prices had the biggest contribution to the formation of the inflation, BNM Governor Dorin Dragutanu said at a news conference. He noted that, in June 2011, the prices for foodstuffs did not drop for the first time over the last years; on the contrary, they grew by an average of 0.4 percent.

The BNM expects a higher inflation in 2012, 7.4 per cent, against 5.7-percent predictions from May 2011. Last February, the National Bank s forecasts showed a 4.5-percent inflation for 2012.
"During 2012, the annual inflation rate will be higher than the targeted level, standing at 7.4 per cent in late next year," Dorin Dragutanu stressed. A 5.7-percent rate will be reached as late as in the first quarter of 2013.

The BNM explains the revision of the forecast for 2012 in the sense of increase by a higher inflation pressure against 2011, rise in international prices for food products, more depreciated dollar/euro exchange rate. The impact of an increase of the indirect taxes, scheduled by the authorities, and a growth of the demand will be felt too.

The new forecast, just as the previous one, implies a one-figure annual inflation, "despite some higher inflation pressures."