BUCHAREST, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- Inflation in Romania turned negative in 2015 for the first time in more than 20 years, with the consumer price index of 0.9 percent lower at the year end in annual terms, the latest data released Wednesday by the National Institute of Statistics showed.

　　According to the institute, consumer prices declined in December 2015 compared to December 2014, bringing the annual inflation to minus 0.9 percent, another record following the plus 0.83 percent in 2014.

　　Romania's central bank had estimated an annual inflation of 2.2 percent early in 2015, but successively revised it downwards to minus 0.7 percent in November, as the consumer prices dropped after the value-added tax on food was cut from 24 percent to 9 percent in June, among other fiscal measures taken by the government, reported the official Agerpres news agency.

　　The central bank's inflation forecast for 2016, issued two months ago, was 1.1 percent, while its annual target is 2.5 percent, plus/minus one percentage points.

　　Since the end of 1989, inflation in the country reached an all time high of 316.90 percent in November of 1993 and a record low of -1.90 percent in August of 2015. Inflation rate averaged 49.63 percent from 1991 until 2015, and stayed in the one-digit range since 2004.