Interest rates seen unchanged despite inflation surge

The January increase, which is the second in a row, sees the annual inflation rate jumping out of the central bank's 3-6 percent inflation objective.

 The central bank has been implementing an expansionary monetary policy which saw interest rates easing by 9 percentage points in 2009 as inflation fell from as high as 15.1 percent in August 2008 to 5 percent in November last year. According to the statement from the CSO, only one group index, education, recorded a change of more than 1.0 percent between December 2009 and January 2010. The group index registered an increase of 5.8 percent.