# Inflation Is Not One Number Once Money Depends on It On 12 August, Romania’s National Institute of Statistics published two true July figures: prices were 0.58% higher than in June and 8.2% higher than in July 2025. A contract that says “with inflation” still has to choose which of those periods to apply. **0.58%** · July versus June **8.2%** · July versus July 2025 **4.4%** · July versus December 2025 **9.8%** · twelve-month average ## One thousand lei, four rules Keep the sum. Keep July 2026. Change only the reference frame. The amount payable moves. - Previous month: 1,005.80 lei (0.58%) - Same month last year: 1,081.60 lei (8.16%) - Versus December: 1,043.70 lei (4.37%) - Twelve-month average: 1,098.00 lei (9.80%) The page reads official price indices. It does not compute a pension, a rent or an award, and it does not replace the index named in a contract, judgment or statute. ## Change only the sentence The July figures stay put. The clause chooses the frame. The amount payable follows the clause. ## A fixed basket, a rule for money The CPI is a Laspeyres index with a periodically updated basket. It compares prices of goods and services bought by resident households. It is a measure of monetary final consumption, not of every cash outflow. That limit is what makes the series usable as a rule for moving money through time: it is specified. A household paying loan interest, insurance or tax can live a different year from the release without the release being wrong. ## “Inflation was X%” is an unfinished sentence The four frames above are all official. Two people can quote different figures and both be right. One is asking how prices moved since last month. The other, since the same month last year. Once indexation repeats, the distinction compounds. On 1,000 lei, in July 2026, the four official frames open a gap of 92.20 lei. ## Where the sentence becomes money ### Rent A clause that says only “with inflation” leaves the frame free. On 1,000 lei, July on July pays 1,081.60 lei. The previous month, applied once, pays 1,005.80 lei. ### Public fee Many public updates start from December. On the same thousand lei, the December 2025 frame pays 1,043.70 lei. That is the year so far, not the twelve months ending in July. ### Maintenance Romania’s Civil Code, article 531(2), indexes a fixed maintenance sum quarterly “according to the inflation rate”. The statute asks for a rate. It does not name the series, the months or the compounding rule. ### The public pension Law 360/2023 indexes the pension point by average annual inflation plus 50% of real average-wage growth. In 2026 the point stayed frozen. “Inflation” in that statute is not July’s monthly CPI. ## The same gap wherever money follows an index Romania is the worked example. Wherever a contract, award or statute says “inflation” without naming the index, the months and the rule, the sentence stays open. The amount is decided when the sentence closes. ## What is published and what is calculated - **Published fact.** The four INS frames and the three HICP frames for July 2026 come from the 12 August release, as quoted by AGERPRES and News.ro. - **Index calculation.** HICP month pairs use Eurostat monthly levels, 2015=100. The amount payable is the starting sum times I_end / I_start. - **Scenario.** Reader-chosen weights rearrange group indices. The result is not an alternative CPI. - **Missing.** HICP months in 2026 were absent from the Eurostat extract on 13 August. The July food month-on-month rate was not recovered as a number. There is no interpolation. ## Sources - [Consumer price index, July 2026](https://insse.ro/cms/ro/tags/comunicat-indicele-preturilor-de-consum) - [Quotation of the INS release, 12 August 2026](https://agerpres.ro/economic/2026/08/12/rata-anuala-a-inflatiei-a-scazut-la-8-16-in-luna-iulie--1584156) - [Totals table: 0.58%, 4.37%, 8.16%](https://www.news.ro/economic/ins-rata-anuala-a-inflatiei-in-luna-iulie-comparativ-cu-luna-iulie-2025-a-fost-8-2-in-iunie-rata-anuala-a-inflatiei-era-10-4-1922404412002026080922623782) - [Monthly HICP, 2015=100, Romania](https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/prc_hicp_midx/default/table?lang=en) - [CPI shop for indexation](http://statistici.insse.ro/shop/?page=ipc1) - [Pension point indexation](https://legislatie.just.ro/Public/DetaliiDocument/276927) Updated 13 August 2026. Next revision: the August CPI release. Documented by Marius Comper · [mariuscomper.uk](https://mariuscomper.uk/)