Kuwait’s annual inflation eased to 5.2 per cent in January from a nearly two-year high, data from the OPEC member’s statistics office showed on Monday.

Price pressure rose in Kuwait last year, led by food costs, pushing inflation to 6 per cent in December, the highest rate in the oil exporting Persian Gulf.
“Generally we’ve seen a trend towards rising food price inflation across the region, and I’d be surprised if this was the start of a sustained decline in food prices,” said Daniel Kaye, senior economist at National Bank of Kuwait.
High global food prices, which helped trigger popular revolts in several Arab countries, are one of the factors seen lifting inflation in the Persian Gulf, which imports majority of its food needs, this year.
Kuwait consumer prices fell by 0.3 per cent month-on-month, with the last such a decline seen in February 2010, as food costs dropped by 0.8 per cent, data from the OPEC member’s statistics office showed.
(Source: Reuters)