National Bank of Romania raises key interest to 10%

Most analysts were expecting an increase in key interest of over 0.25 percent, and many are predicting inflation exceeding 9 percent in July, due to a rise in gas and electricity prices.

Gas prices will increase 12.5 percent as of July 1, while the price for electricity will rise 4.4 percent. "The Romanian Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE) has determined that requests for the rise in prices are justified and decided to approve an increase in natural gas and electricity prices, both for the population and economic agents," said ANRE sources.

BNR also announced it will continue to handle the liquidity on monetary market through operations, which means sterilizing the excess of liquidity on the interbank market to maintain interest rates at a desired level (close to the monetary policy level).