Moldova sees sharp rise in inflation in Jan amid energy crisis

CHISINAU. Feb 13 (Interfax) - Consumer prices in Moldova rose 2.8% month-on-month in January 2025 after growing 1% in December, the National Bureau of Statistics said.

Annual inflation jumped to 9.1% in January compared to a year earlier, from 7% in December.

The sharp rise in inflation was mainly caused by the increase in tariffs for heating, gas and electricity. Food and medicine also saw significant price increases.

Public services increased 7.9% in price MoM and 18% year-on-year in January. Within the increase in the price of services, electricity prices rose 50.4% MoM and 47.8% YoY, while heating prices rose 25.1% MoM and 58.4% YoY.

Food prices rose 1% in price MoM and 7.4% YoY in January, while prices for non-food goods rose 0.8% and 4.7%, respectively.

As previously reported, on February 5 the National Bank of Moldova (NBM) raised the refinancing rate for the second time since the start of the year, from 5.6% to 6.5% per annum. The NBM increased the rate 2 percentage points from 3.6% to 5.6% at an unscheduled meeting on January 13, amid a significant rise in actual inflation above the acceptable range set by the bank (5% plus-minus 1.5 p.p.).

It was also previously reported that Chisinau had been forced to significantly increase imports of more expensive electricity from Romania amid the cessation of Russian gas supplies to Transdniestria, from which right-bank Moldova imported electricity at an advantageous price. This led to a sharp growth in tariffs for domestic consumers.

Inflation in Moldova stood at 7% in 2024 compared to 4.2% in 2023 and a record 30.2% in 2022.