Romania's consumer price inflation rose to +14.53% on the year in March from +15.52% the previous month, exceeding expectations, data from the National Statistics Board showed on Thursday.

The median forecast of a Reuters poll of analysts put Romanian inflation at 14.20% year-on-year, above the central bank's 1.5%-3.5% target.

Data showed prices rose 1.01% on the month in March, with food prices up 1.89%, non-food prices up 0.35% and services up 1.08%. (Reporting by Antonis Triantafyllou and Antonis Pothitos in Gdansk)