Natural gas, edible oil, potatoes and fuel have become the most expensive in the last year, while the only reduction has been in electricity, according to the National Institute of Statistics published on Monday.

Between February 2021 and February 2022, natural gas prices rose by 44.94%, edible oil prices by 26.12%, potatoes by 30.58% and fuels by 27.24%.

In the category of non-food goods, in the last year, large increases were recorded, apart from natural gas and fuels, in thermal energy (plus 20.99%). According to the INS, electricity prices fell between February 2021 and February 2022 by 8.04%.

Compared to the previous month, gas prices fell by 9.97% in February 2022, heat by 0.49%, electricity by 5.96% while fuels rose by 4.51%. The average decrease in prices compared to January 2022 was of 0.3% in this chapter, according to Agerpres.

In the case of services, the highest annual increases were recorded for postal services (plus 17.48%) and for water, sewerage and sanitation (plus 12.84%).

Regarding the prices for electricity and natural gas, INS explains that “the provisions of GEO no. 118/2021 regarding the establishment of a compensation scheme for the consumption of electricity and natural gas for the cold season have been taken into account”.

The annual inflation rate rose to 8.53% in February 2022, from 8.35% in January, given that non-food prices rose by 9.33%, food by 8.84%, and services by 6.08%, according to data published on Monday by the National Institute of Statistics (INS).