Kuwait, the world's fourth largest oil exporter, saw its inflation accelerate by 0.5 per cent month-on-month in June to its highest level since August 2009 amid a steep rise in housing costs.

The Opec member said the housing costs, which have the largest weight of 27 per cent in the overall basket, jumped 1.3 per cent month-on-month in June, after staying flat for two months in a row.

The inflation ump in June brought the annual rate to 3.4 per cent from May's 2.9 per cent, the state news agency Kuna reported on Sunday.

Food price rise slowed to 0.1 per cent in June, from 0.6 per cent in May, while transport costs grew 0.4 per cent after a 0.3 per cent decline in May, Kuna said.

Kuwait's central bank governor Sheikh Salem Abdul-Aziz al-Sabah said in April he saw the IMF's 2010 inflation forecast of 4.8 per cent as quite reasonable.

According to experts, inflation started to pick up again in the world's top crude exporting region this year as economies recovered. Saudi Arabia experienced the steepest price spike while Qatar and the UAE were under less pressure.-Reuters