Consumption expenditures per household in Romania rose by 10.7% y\/y to RON 4,100 (EUR 820) in Q1 \u2013 faster than the 7.1% y\/y average consumer price inflation. The households were able to boost discretionary expenses (not a large part of their budgets) much quicker, as the prices of food and utilities were kept under control by authorities.<\/p>\n
Thus, the households spent over 40% more on entertainment, education, culture, and education compared to the same period last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As a share of total budgets, the two categories accounted for 2.9% compared to 2.4% in the same period last year.<\/p>\n
The budgets for HoReCa rose by 37.1% y\/y and accounted for 2.1% of total households\u2019 budgets on average, up from 1.7% in Q1 2023.<\/p>\n
The expenditure for transportation, typically considered a non-discretionary, rose by 26.2% y\/y to 7.3% of the total budget from 6.4% last year. However, in the Romanian context, this category reflects, at least to some extent, a discretionary expense as it is linked to leisure rather than commuting.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The expenses for typical non-discretionary categories of food and housing increased by 6% y\/y and 1.6%, respectively, while their share in the total budget decreased to a combined 50.6% from 53.5%.<\/p>\n