Regulars
THE Vivid INDEX
September 2005
While it is looking increasingly likely that Romania’s inflationary target for 2005 will not quite be reached there is little doubt that the outlook continues to improve. However, while the renumeration of the currency seems to have had little effect, it is likely that the galloping price of oil on world markets is yet to impact Romania yet, though there is no doubt it will. Meat and cigarettes are the two most inflationary items in our basket, while Coca Cola has dropped its prices by nearly 20 per cent – no doubt in a bid to hold onto market share.
| Price | ||||
| Item | April 1999 | Year ago | July | August |
| Salami de Sibiu (1 kg, Mega Image) | 92,000 | 335,100 | 39.9 RON | 44.9 RON |
| Bananas (1 kg, Piata Amzei) | 18,000 | 45,000 | 3.5 RON | 3.0 RON |
| Unleaded petrol ( 1 litre, Agip) | 7,800 | 24,900 | 3.38 RON | 3.42 RON |
| Rail ticket (Bucharest-Brasov, Rapid, first class) | 70,000 | 287,000 | 34.4 RON | 34.4 RON |
| Coca Cola (330 ml, Mega Image) | 4,800 | 18,400 | 1.49 RON | 1.49 RON |
| 1 Libertatea | 1,700 | 4,000 | 0.5 RON | 0.5 RON |
| 1 Big Mac | 18,000 | 59,000 | 6.7 RON | 6.7 RON |
| 1 Egg (Piata Amzei) | 1,000 | 4,000 | 3.5 RON | 3.5 RON |
| Cigarettes (Carpati, Ion Slatineanu shop) | 4,000 | 15,000 | 1.7 RON | 2.2 RON |
| Int. telephone call (1 min., daytime, Europe) | 8,900 | 10,760 | 0.94 RON | 0.96 RON |
Monthly nominal change in prices, July 2005: 3.5 per cent
July 2005 government figure: 1.0 per cent (June was 0.3 per cent)
Vivid Index, July, year-on-year: 8.2 per cent
Government figure, July, year-on-year: 9.3 per cent (June was 9.7 per cent)
2002 inflation: 17.8 per cent
2003 inflation: 14.1 per cent
2004 inflation: 9.3 per cent
2005 target: 7.0 per cent
