Sofia - Bulgarian retail prices went up by 1.1 per cent in September, dragging the inflation rate to 7.4 per since the start of 2008 and overshooting the annual target with only three-quarters of the year gone, the National Statistical INstitute said Monday.

The 2008 budget was based on a projected rate of 6.9 per cent annual inflation rate, following 12.7 per cent in 2007, Bulgaria's first year in the European Union.

With the latest jump in September, following a slow-down in August, the year-on-year inflation rate in Bulgaria was 11.0 per cent. (dpa)