Regulars
THE Vivid INDEX
February 2005
Romania’s inflation outlook just continues to get better and better, with both the Vivid Index (7.7 per cent) and the official government figure (x.x) for 2004 coming in beneath the targeted 9.0 per cent. Although December was an expensive month for Romanians, as it always is. Can we say that Romania finally has its inflation problem licked? We think so, though it would be nice to see it come in this time next year at something around the 3 per cent level. What is surprising is that the multinationals haven’t hiked the price of their products for some time. The cost of fresh produce remains very unpredictable.
| Price | ||||
| Item | April 1999 | Year ago | December | January |
| Salami de Sibiu (1 kg, Mega Image) | 92,000 | 335,100 | 399,000 | 399,000 |
| Bananas (1 kg, Piata Amzei) | 18,000 | 45,000 | 29,000 | 45,000 |
| Unleaded petrol ( 1 litre, Agip) | 7,800 | 24,900 | 30,650 | 30,650 |
| Rail ticket (Bucharest-Brasov, Rapid, first class) | 70,000 | 287,000 | 344,000 | 344,000 |
| Coca Cola (330 ml, Mega Image) | 4,800 | 18,400 | 18,400 | 18,400 |
| 1 Libertatea | 1,700 | 4,000 | 4,000 | 4,000 |
| 1 Big Mac | 18,000 | 59,000 | 65,000 | 65,000 |
| 1 Egg (Piata Amzei) | 1,000 | 4,000 | 3,700 | 3,800 |
| Cigarettes (Carpati, Ion Slatineanu shop) | 4,000 | 15,000 | 18,000 | 18,000 |
| Int. telephone call (1 min., daytime, Europe) | 8,900 | 10,760 | 9,840 | 9,840 |
Monthly nominal change in prices, December 2004: 5.7 per cent
(November was .5 per cent)
December 2004 government figure: 0.6 per cent
(November was 0.6 per cent)
Vivid Index, December, year-on-year: 7.7 per cent
(November was 3.2 per cent)
Government figure, December, year-on-year: 9.3 per cent
(November was 9.9 per cent)
2002 inflation: 17.8 per cent
2003 inflation: 14.1 per cent
2004 inflation: 9.9 per cent
2005 target: 3.0 per cent
