Annual inflation rate steady at 3 percent this March

The annual inflation rate kept steady at 3 percent this March, as food grew by 5.11 percent more expensive, service prices advanced 3.8 percent and non-food prices went up 1.39 percent, shows data released on Friday by the National Institute of Statistics (INS). March 2020 consumer prices were 0.5 percent higher compared to February and 1.16 percent up from December 2019. Based on the harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP), the annual inflation rate is 2.7 percent. The CPI-based average consumer price rate in the past 12 months (April 2019 - March 2020) compared to the previous 12 months (April 2018 - March 2019) is 3.7 percent. The HICP-based average rate is 3.7 percent. The National Bank of Romania's forecast for this year's inflation rate is 3 percent. AGERRES (RO - author: Andreea Marinescu, editor: Mariana Nica; EN - author: Simona Klodnischi, editor: Simona Iacob)