Foreign investor interest in Romania drops due to inflation

“The decline of fundamental macroecomonic indicators has led to a loss of interest on the part of foreign investors for the Romanian financial market", said Svedberg.

The average transacted value in November on the Bucharest Stock Exchange was €14.2 million, compared to €22.8 mln in July.

Svedberg talked about inflation in all the countries of the region, saying that he expects this to increase in some parts of Central and Eastern Europe and to drop in others. He added that this is not a long-term growth trend, but rather temporary shocks.

Annual inflation in November in the European Union increased by 3.1 percent, and by 0.5 percent compared to October. The situation is almost identical in the Eurozone, where inflation was 3.1 percent.

In Central and Eastern Europe, inflation rose by 7.48 percent in Latvia, Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, Hungary, Romania, the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia, none of which belongs to the Eurozone.

The top inflation rate was that of Latvia (13.7 percent) while the lowest was in Slovakia (2.3 percent). The September inflation rate in these states was 6.31 percent. Latvia saw the highest increase in prices, at 11.5 percent, while Slovakia had the lowest, at 1.7 percent.

Romania is in 6th place, with inflation at 6.8 percent. According to the National Institute of Statistics (INS), prices for foodstuffs and services are up 1.2 percent, while those for other products rose by 0.6 percent.

The current account had a €13.34 bln deficit, 71.7 percent higher year-on-year, making up 11.3 percent of GDP in 2007.