Romania Is Unlikely to Change Key Rate, Isarescu Says

Romania’s central bank is unlikely to change interest rates as it battles to slow inflation, which accelerated to the fastest pace in more than two years after a tax increase boosted prices, Governor Mugur Isarescu said.

The Banca Nationala a Romaniei’s main goal in 2011 will be to damp inflation prompted by a 5 percentage point increase in the value-added tax in July, Isarescu said yesterday in an interview in Bucharest. The inflation rate rose to 8 percent in December, more than double the 3.4 percent forecast for end-2011.