Bahrain inflation rises on food costs

Bahrain's consumer price index was 104.64 points at the end of January compared with 104.07 points in December, the CIO said on its web site, without giving a comparative index figure for January 2007.

Food, beverage and tobacco costs climbed 2.1 per cent in January from December while housing costs were steady, the data showed.

The CIO took over calculation of Bahrain's consumer price index from the Central Bank of Bahrain in 2006.

It said in January it was using 2006 as its base year, and that calculations of annual inflation for each month would be done at a base of 100 points until it works out new weights to calculate prices for previous years.

That would indicate annual inflation in January of 4.64 per cent compared with 4.07 per cent in December.

Bahrain said in January it had allocated 40 million dinars (Dh389.75 million) to help citizens cope with a rise in the price of basic goods.

Like most of its neighbours in the world's top oil-exporting region, Bahrain pegs its currency to the dollar, forcing it to track US monetary policy when the US Federal Reserve is slashing interest rates to ward of recession.

By contrast, Gulf economies are surging on a five-fold rise in oil prices in the last six years. (Reuters)