Romania Leads EU in Inflation for Fifth Consecutive Month

The annual inflation rate in the European Union rose to 2.7% in May, from 2.6% in April, while Romania is, for the fifth month in a row, the country with the highest inflation in the EU bloc, shows the data published on Tuesday by the European Statistical Office (Eurostat).

In May, the EU member states with the lowest annual inflation rates were Lithuania (0%), Finland (0.4%) and Italy (0.8%).

At the opposite pole, the EU member countries with the highest inflation rates were Romania (5.8%), Belgium (4.9%) and Croatia (4.3%). Compared to April 2024, the annual inflation rate decreased in 17 member states, including Romania, from 6.2% to 5.8%, remained stable in two countries and increased in 14 member states.

In the euro zone, the annual inflation rate stood at 2.6% in May, up from 2.4% in April.

Eurostat data show that core inflation, i.e. what remains after the prices for volatile goods such as energy and food are removed, rose to 2.9% in May, from 2.8% in April. Another indicator that, in addition to energy and food prices, also excludes cigarette and alcohol prices, rose to 2.9% in May, from 2.7% in April. Core inflation is the indicator closely followed by the ECB when elaborating its monetary policy decisions.

In the case of Romania, the National Institute of Statistics (INS) previously informed that the annual inflation rate dropped, in May 2024, to 5.12%, from 5.9% in April, under conditions in which food commodities they increased in price by 1.24%, non-food by 6.38%, and services by 9.29%.