The National Bank of Moldova revised the rate of inflation for 2015 up to 9.3%, an increase of 1.2 percentage points on the forecast made in April. In 2016 the inflation is projected to reach 11.6%, up 5.2 percentage points from the previous forecast, IPN reports.
“The temporary passing by the inflation of the upper limit of the interval of 5% ±1.5 percentage points from the National Bank’s inflation target is caused by the depreciation of the national currency during the first six months of this year and the current and future rises in the tariffs of public utilities,” said the central bank’s governor Dorin Dragutanu, noting that inflationist factors will prevail in the immediate period.
The updated forecasts imply a series of risks such as the rise in food prices. “After the second quarter of 2017, the rate of inflation will return to the variation interval of 5% ±1,5 p.p., targeted by the National Bank,” stated the governor.
Dragutanu also said that even if the forecast rate of inflation for 2015 and 2016 was revised up, the inflation target wasn’t modified. The central bank will continue to apply all the available monetary instruments so as to bring the inflation down to the target level.
