Oman inflation touches 18-year high

RECORD HIGH: Annual inflation in Oman rose to 11.56% in March, its highest level in 18 years. (Getty Images)

Annual inflation in Oman accelerated to 11.56% in March from 11.11% in February, its highest level in at least 18 years, government data showed on Saturday.

The Gulf Arab state's consumer price index hit 120.6 points at the end of March, the Ministry of National Economy said on its website. That compares with 108.10 points a year earlier and 120 points at the end of February.

First-quarter costs for food, beverage and tobacco costs - which make up almost a third of the consumer price index - surged 18.5% compared to the year-earlier period, the data showed. Rents rose 12.4%.

The ministry did not provide year-on-year data for March.

"Inflation is still in the double digits and we expected that," said Monica Malik, regional economist at Cairo-based investment bank EFG-Hermes.

"It's a situation of rent and food prices. We don't see a moderation in the coming months as food prices will depend on what happens in global prices and on dollar movements," she added.

The country's money supply surged 37.8% in March, the ministry's data also showed.

Oman, which pegs its rial to the US dollar, has been trying to control soaring inflation by introducing policies to offset the impact of price rises on its people.

Oman's ruler, Sultan Qaboos bin Said, ordered an increase of up to 43% in state workers' wages and 5% to 35% more for state pensioners.

Like other states in the world's biggest oil-exporting region, Oman's economy is surging on a near six-fold rise in oil prices in the last six years. The non-Opec oil producer's economy expanded to 15.51 billion rials ($40.29 billion) last year. (Reuters)

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