UAE Annual Inflation In May Tad Up At 0.81% On Food Prices

Thursday, Jul 05, 2012

DUBAI (Zawya Dow Jones)--Annual inflation in the United Arab Emirates was slightly up at 0.81% in May, compared with 0.79% in April, due to a increase in food prices, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

The food and non-alcoholic beverages category prices within the country's Consumer Price Index, or CPI, were up 6.82% in May compared with the same month last year, and by 0.95% from April.

However, a significant drop in rents by 3.35% from May 2011 moderated the CPI index numbers, as the housing component constitutes nearly 36% of the U.A.E.'s CPI basket.

The U.A.E.'s economy minister said last month that he expected inflation to remain below 1.5% in the short term.

-By Leila Hatoum, Dow Jones Newswires; +971-4-446-1686; leila.hatoum@dowjones.com; Twitter: @ZDJnews

Copyright (c) 2012 Dow Jones & Co.

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05-07-12 0858GMT