Kuwaiti Inflation Accelerates to 11.35% in June on Food Costs

By Fiona MacDonald

Sept. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Kuwait's inflation rate accelerated to 11.35 percent in June from 11.1 percent in May on increases in the cost of housing and food.

The inflation rate on food rose to 14.2 percent in June from 10.8 percent a month earlier, a government official said in a telephone interview from Kuwait today, speaking on condition of anonymity. Housing costs gained an annual 13.1 percent, compared to 14.9 percent in May. The costs of tobacco and soft drinks surged an annual 24.4 percent.

Inflation in Kuwait, the only Gulf Arab state to have dropped its currency's peg to the dollar, accelerated to a record 11.4 percent in April.

To contact the reporter on this story: Fiona MacDonald in Kuwait FmacDonald4@bloomberg.net