DUBAI (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia’s annual inflation rate was 2.7% in April, unchanged from the previous month, driven mostly by housing rental costs, government data released on Monday showed.
Housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels rose by 8.1% from a year earlier, while the food and beverage sector – the leading driver for inflation during much of 2022 – rose by 1.0%, the data from the General Authority for Statistics showed.
Overall rents for housing grew 9.6% in April 2023. Apartment rents gained 22.2% following a similar rise in March.
Within the food sector, milk, milk products and eggs rose by almost 11%.
Consumer prices were up 0.4% in April from March, the statistics authority said.
The inflation outlook for the Gulf countries is muted compared to that expected in many major economies, a Reuters poll found.
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For the full year, it forecast the region’s inflation would be between 2.1% and 3.3% and decrease further in 2024.
(Reporting by Rachna Uppal; editing by Barbara Lewis)