Romania's consumer price inflation accelerated for a third month in a row in February, but the increase was less than expected, data from the National Institute of Statistics showed on Monday.
The consumer price inflation rose marginally to 8.5 percent in February from 8.4 percent in January. Economists had expected an inflation of 9.0 percent.
Non-food prices grew 9.3 percent and food prices rose 8.8 percent annually in February. Services prices increased 6.1 percent.
On a monthly basis, the consumer price index rose 0.6 percent in February.
The EU measure of harmonized index, or HICP rose 7.9 percent yearly in February, following a 7.2 percent gain in the previous month.
On a month-on-month basis, the HICP rose 1.0 percent in February.
