Food and school fuel inflation

Higher food and education costs pushed up consumer prices in the UAE last month, official data show. The consumer price index rose 0.78 per cent last month compared with April last year, the National Bureau of Statistics reported. On a monthly basis, consumer prices last month eased 0.03 per cent from March. Education costs rose by 10.46 per cent last month from the year earlier, with food and beverage costs increasing by 4.52 per cent on a yearly basis. Housing costs edged up 0.05 per cent.

Inflationary pressures elsewhere in the Gulf are forecast to slowly increase this year as economic recovery takes hold and the prices of imported food goods rise. In Bahrain, the annual inflation rate last month sped up to 2.7 per cent year-on-year from 1.8 per cent in March, on higher food prices, official data from the kingdom showed yesterday. Inflation in Bahrain has picked up after slowing to 1.1 per cent in November last year. The main contributor to the increase on a monthly basis was higher food prices, which rose 3.3 per cent from March.

Saudi Arabia reported that inflation accelerated for a fourth month in April to a 10 month high of 4.9 per cent. Inflation across the Gulf slowed last year from 2008 highs as the financial crisis lowered housing costs and food prices. @Email:tarnold@thenational.ae