Kuwait inflation slows to 4.2%

Kuwait's inflation eased to 4.2 per cent on an annual basis in June 2009, its lowest level in more than two years, helped by a drop in food prices, the latest available data showed yesterday.

The global crisis slashed growth rates across the oil producing region, reducing consumer price growth from 2008 record peaks, with some countries, such as the UAE and Qatar, experiencing deflation in 2009.

Inflation stood at 5.2 per cent year-on-year in May 2009, said Kuwait's statistics office, well down from a record high of 11.6 per cent in August 2008. On the month, consumer prices in the world's fourth largest oil exporter remained flat in June, following a 0.2 per cent rise in the previous month, data showed.

Housing prices held steady month-on-month in June, while food prices fell 1.1 per cent. Transport prices rose 0.8 per cent in June. A poll showed last month analysts forecasting Kuwait's inflation at 4.3 per cent for the full year of 2009, down from 10.6 per cent in 2008.

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