Romania's consumer price inflation rose to 7.23% on the year in February from 7.41% the previous month, exceeding expectations, data from the National Statistics Board showed on Wednesday.

The median forecast of a Reuters poll of analysts put Romanian inflation at 7.10% year-on-year, above the central bank's 1.5%-3.5% target.

Data showed prices rose 0.81% on the month in February, with food prices up 0.73%, non-food prices up 0.89% and services up 0.78%. (Reporting by Rafal Wojciech Nowak and Antonis Triantafyllou in Gdansk)