The annual inflation rate is expected to reach 10.3% in the middle of the current year and decline to 5.5% in December 2026, according to the minutes of the monetary policy meeting of the Board of Administration of the National Bank of Romania, held on May 15. The new forecast is more pessimistic than the previous one, which indicated inflation of 9.8% in the middle of the year and 3.9% at the end of 2026. Furthermore, risks to the exchange rate of the leu remain high, and economic activity will feel intensely in the first half of the current year the impact of fiscal consolidation measures and elevated inflation dynamics.