Annual inflation in Moldova reached 8.6% in September. In a single month, prices rose by an average of 1.7%, mainly due to higher natural gas prices. Since the beginning of the year, prices have increased by 6.6%, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), BANI.MD reports.
Natural gas prices rose by 40.8% compared with August, contributing approximately 1.1 percentage points to the monthly inflation rate of 1.7%. Overall, services provided to the population became 4.3% more expensive, non-food goods rose by 1.1%, and food prices increased by 0.2%.
Among food products, eggs recorded the largest monthly price increase, at 2.7%. Milk and dairy products became 0.5% more expensive, sugar rose by 0.4%, and fruit prices increased by 0.3%. Vegetable prices edged down by 0.2%.
Fuels and motor fuels became an average of 5.2% more expensive in one month. Coal prices rose by 12.9%, gasoline by 8.6%, and diesel by 7.2%. Clothing and footwear were each 0.5% more expensive than in August.
Drinking water supply and sewage services rose in price by 1.3%, while education-related goods and services became approximately 5% more expensive. By contrast, passenger transport prices fell by an average of 1%, mainly due to a 6% decline in air transport prices.
Compared with the end of last year, non-food goods became 8.4% more expensive, services rose by 7.4%, and food prices increased by 4.1%. Fruit prices were 13.6% higher than in December 2025. Although egg prices rose in September, they remained approximately 20.2% lower than at the end of last year.
Over the past 12 months, diesel prices increased by 76.4%, while gasoline became 42.3% more expensive. Coal prices rose by 33%, liquefied gas by 22.3%, and the overall category of fuels and motor fuels by 34.5%. Footwear prices increased by 5.1%, clothing by 4.7%, medicines by 4.1%, and construction materials by 3.9%.
Food prices were an average of 5.1% higher than in September last year. Vegetables became 8% more expensive, fruit prices rose by 6.6%, and milk, dairy products and wheat-flour bread each increased by 5.7%. Egg prices rose by 5.4%, vegetable oil by 4.6%, and meat, meat products and canned meat by 1.7%. Sugar prices fell by 0.7%.
Services became an average of 12.6% more expensive over the year. Passenger transport prices rose by 29.8%, electricity by 23.7%, natural gas by 21.3%, water supply and sewage services by 12.4%, and catering services by 9.6%. By contrast, district heating tariffs fell by 17%.
In southern Moldova, prices rose by 2.09% compared with August, the largest increase among the regions analyzed. In the north, prices increased by 1.80%, while the central region recorded a rise of 1.79%. In Chisinau, prices went up by 1.42%, the smallest increase among the four statistical regions.
Nevertheless, annual inflation in the capital reached 8.82%, above the national average. In the south, prices were 8.91% higher than in September 2025, compared with 8.49% in the north and 8.08% in the central region.
Among the countries included in the NBS comparison, Moldova recorded the second-highest inflation rates, both annually and monthly, after Turkey. Annual inflation in Turkey stood at 29.7%, while Bulgaria and Georgia each recorded 5.6%, and Poland reported 4%.