KHARTOUM, Aug 07, 2012 (AFP) - Sudan's inflation was 41.6 percent in July compared with a year earlier, official data showed on Tuesday, continuing a painful price spiral that has prompted unprecedented demonstrations.
The figure compared with 37.2 percent in June, the Central Bureau of Statistics said.
Demonstrations started in mid-June when University of Khartoum students voiced their opposition to high food prices, starting the longest-running public challenge to the 23-year regime of President Omar al-Bashir.
After Bashir announced austerity measures, including tax hikes and an end to cheap fuel, scattered youth-led protests spread around the capital Khartoum and to other parts of Sudan, calling for the government's downfall.
Protests have dwindled during the holy month of Ramadan, which began on July 20.
But in the South Darfur city of Nyala last week a strike by public transport drivers upset over high fuel prices added to the burden of residents, who took to the streets in a major protest.
Security forces opened fire, killing at least eight, in the first confirmed fatalities since the Arab Spring-style protests began in Sudan.
Inflation has soared and the Sudanese pound weakened since Sudan lost its major source of export revenue when South Sudan separated in July last year with about 75 percent of the united country's oil production.
str-it/al
