Romania Posts Highest Annual Inflation In EU For 8th Straight Month

04.15.2011 By Andrei Circhelan

Romania maintained the highest inflation in the European Union for the eighth month in a row in March, while the EU's average rate was stable at 2.7%, statistics office Eurostat said Friday.

Romania maintained the highest inflation in the European Union for the eighth month in a row in March, while the EU's average rate was stable at 2.7%, statistics office Eurostat said Friday.

A year earlier, the EU inflation was 1.6%, the data showed.

Romanian annual inflation reached 8% in March, followed by Estonia (5.1%) and Bulgaria and Hungary (4.6% each), while the lowest annual rates were observed in Ireland (1.2%), Sweden (1.4%) and the Czech Republic (1.9%).

The lowest 12-month averages up to March were registered in Ireland (-0.8%), Latvia (0.7%) and the Netherlands (1.3%) and the highest in Romania (6.8%), Greece (5%) and Hungary (4.3%).

Romanian consumer prices rose 0.6% in March compared with the month earlier. EU's monthly inflation was 1.1% in March.

Annual inflation in the 16 states that use the euro was 2.7% in March, up from 2.4% in the previous month. A year earlier, eurozone's rate was 1.6%.