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Kuwait inflation unchanged at 5.34%

Anual consumer price inflation in Kuwait was 5.34 % at the end of May, almost unchanged from April, after the central bank revalued the dinar currency to contain rising import costs.

The All Items Consumer Price Index was 116.4 points on May 30 compared to 110.5 on May 30 last year, according to government data obtained by Reuters on Sunday. Inflation was 5.37 % at the end of April.
"The figure is all but unchanged on the previous month. It's a slower pace of price growth than we are seeing in other parts of the region but its up on the first quarter and still looks high," said Simon Williams, an economist at HSBC. Inflation was 5.15 % at the end of the first quarter.

The Middle East's fourth-largest oil exporter has allowed its currency to rise 2.64 % since May 19, a day before the central bank dropped its peg to the weakening dollar and adopted a basket of currencies. The central bank said the dollar's slide was driving up inflation by increasing the cost of some imports.

Transport & Communications costs rose 10.24 % in May compared with 10.7 % in April. Housing costs rose 4.08 % in May, unchanged from the previous month, while increases in clothing prices eased to 5.77 % from 6.3 % in April.

Food prices were up 5.6 % in May compared with 5.4 % in April, while the rise in beverages and tobacco costs fell to 1.58 % in May from 4.6 % in April.

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