Saudi Arabia's annual inflation rate fell for a sixth month running to a 19-month low of 5.21 percent in April, with official data showing food price rises continued to decline while pressures from rents remained steep. Saudi Arabia's cost of living index stood at 121.2 points on April 30 compared with 115.2 points a year earlier, Saudi Arabia's Central Department of Statistics said on its website. That compared with inflation of 6 percent in March and was the lowest inflation rate since September 2007. Inflation rates have declined rapidly in the largest Gulf Arab economy as commodity prices slumped and a stronger US dollar helped reduce import costs for the Kingdom, which pegs its riyal to the dollar. “We are forecasting that inflation will average 4.8 percent this year as food prices fall further,” said Monica Malik, regional economist at EFG-Hermes in Dubai. Food and beverage costs recorded a rise of 1.6 percent in April compared with a 2.8 percent advance in March. Last year, when inflation peaked at more than 11 percent in July, food and beverage costs in Saudi Arabia had surged an annual 16 percent. Rental price rises also eased to 18.8 percent in April compared with 20 percent in March, the data showed. “Rents will stay high as there is a shortage of housing domestically,” she added Saudi Arabia said last year it would invest around $400 billion in the next five years.
