KUWAIT CITY: Inflation in OPEC member Kuwait raced to a new all-time high of 9.53 percent in January, driven by sharp rises in housing services and prices of beverages, official figures showed on Thursday.
The consumer price index in January hit 126.4 points compared to 115.4 points a year ago, the new figures released by the Central Statistics Office showed.
Year-on-year inflation in December hit a record 7.5 percent amid a sharp rise in the cost of housing services, medical care and foodstuffs.
The figures show that the cost of housing services rose 16.1 percent in January from a year ago, while the price of beverages and tobacco rose 15.1 percent during the same period.
Medical care and education rose by 12 percent, household services 10 percent and foodstuffs by 7.7 percent.
Kuwait, the fourth largest OPEC producer, has been striving to combat a steep rise in inflation for the past year.
In May 2007, the Gulf state de-pegged the dinar from the dollar and linked it to a basket of currencies, with the dollar making up the largest component, in a bid to contain inflation aggravated by the depreciation of the greenback.
Since then, the dinar has gained 8.2 percent against the dollar but lost more than 10 percent against the euro and Japanese yen, which has fuelled imported inflation since a large portion of Kuwaiti imports come from Europe and Japan.
In February, the government raised the salaries of citizens by 120 dinars ($450) a month under pressure from parliament, which was subsequently dissolved in March after MPs demanded an additional increase. -AFP
