Inflation rate falls to 1.3% in January

Inflation in Dubai slowed to four per cent last year after reaching a peak of 10.8 per cent in 2008, official figures have revealed.

The fall came as housing prices halved and global trade slumped, lowering the cost of imported goods.

And monthly figures show the inflation rate fell to 1.3 per cent in January 2010, the lowest level in at least a year, as food costs declined. The rate in December was 2.8 per cent.

Annual price growth in the key housing and energy sectors, which have a 44 per cent weighting in the emirate's inflation basket, fell to 2.4 per cent last year from 5.6 per cent in 2008, according to Dubai Statistics Centre.

Food prices, which account for 11 per cent of the overall index, edged up by 2.2 per cent after jumping by 21.1 per cent in 2008. Education costs saw the biggest rise last year with 18.6 per cent, little changed from the previous year.

Inflation across the UAE hit a nine-year low of 1.6 per cent last year due to a fall in the household category after touching a record high of 12.3 per cent in 2008. Analysts expect price growth of 2.5 per cent this year.

The UAE rate rose to record levels in 2008 as real estate prices boomed and the cost of imported goods soared.

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