Romania: Inflation eases in February from January
Latest reading: Consumer prices rose 9.3% in annual terms in February, following a 9.6% increase in the previous month. February’s reading was the weakest since July 2025.
Relative to the previous month’s data, there were milder price pressures for non-food goods (+9.4% on a year-on-year basis vs +10.0% in January) and services (+11.4% vs +11.6% in January). Finally, the change in food prices was the same as in the prior month (+7.9% in February and January).
Lastly, consumer prices increased 0.59% in February on a month-on-month basis, following a 0.86% increase in the prior month.
Panelist insight: Commenting on the outlook, ING’s Valentin Tataru and Stefan Posea stated:
“Our long-held view has been that inflation would hover between 9% and 10% until the summer, then decline more visibly as last year’s tax hikes and electricity market liberalisation drop out of the annual comparison. However, the emergence of a new geopolitical conflict – with no clear resolution in sight- now suggests additional upward pressure in the March-April readings, primarily through higher oil prices. This would temporarily push headline inflation back above 10.0%.”