Bahrain's rate of inflation as measured by the consumer price index (CPI) remained largely unchanged from May this year to last month, a report said.

Data from the Central Informatics Organisation released yesterday revealed that the kingdom's consumer prices increased by 0.2 per cent last month when compared with May, reported the Gulf Daily News, our sister publication.

This was shown by the increase in the CPI from 117.8 points to 118 points.

Prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages rose by 1.4 per cent last month compared to May due to increase in prices of rice, fresh fruits and vegetables.

Transport prices on the other hand, fell due to decrease in price of private vehicles by 2.6 per cent last month compared to the previous month.

Also, prices of miscellaneous goods and services declined due to a 5.3 per cent decrease in the price of gold.

Inflation was at 3.3 per cent last month, compared with the same period last year, as shown by the increase in the CPI from 114.2 points in June last year to 118 points last month.

The main upward contribution during June this year when compared with June last year came from rises in food and beverage prices by 4.3 per cent; furnishing, household equipment and routine household maintenance by 7.1 per cent; housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels by 10.4 per cent and alcoholic beverages and tobacco by 5.5 per cent.

Average consumer prices rose by 3.2 per cent from the second quarter last year to second quarter this year.

This is shown by the increase in the CPI to 117.8 points during the second quarter this year, up from 114.1 points.

Inflation for the first half of the year was 3.2 per cent when compared with the same period last year.

The index increased to 117.5 points during the first half from 113.9 points during the same period last year. – TradeArabia News Service