Kuwait’s inflation rate rose to 4.1 percent in March from 3.8 percent the previous month as the costs of food, beverages and tobacco increased.
Food prices climbed an annual 10 percent from 8.6 percent in February, according to data posted on the Central Statistics Office website today. Beverages and tobacco rose 7.3 percent in March, compared with 7.2 percent the previous month. Consumer prices rose 0.8 percent from February.
Inflation in Kuwait, the only Gulf Arab state to have dropped its currency peg to the US dollar, accelerated to a record 11.6 percent in August 2008.
The inflation rate is forecast to fall to an average 4 percent this year, from 4.8 percent in 2011, National Bank of Kuwait SAK, the country’s biggest lender, said in January.
Prices of household goods and services increased 2.3 percent in the 12 months through March, compared with 1.4 percent the previous month.
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