Qatar's annual inflation for August reached its highest level since at least January 2010, hitting 2.1 per cent year-on-year, data from the Gulf country's statistics authority showed on Wednesday.

Consumer prices rose to 0.2 per cent month-on-month in August after a 0.3 per cent decrease in July, the data showed.

The world's top liquefied natural gas exporter, spared the popular unrest sweeping the Arab world, returned to annual inflation last December after a protracted period of deflation with its economy powering ahead at a double-digit clip.

Qatar plans to spend over $125 billion in the next five years on construction and energy projects and the Opec member's economy should keep growing strongly.

Analysts polled by Reuters in June expected average inflation of 3.2 per cent in 2011.

Average deflation in Qatar reached 2.4 per cent in 2010, less than 4.9 per cent in 2009, which was the first full-year deflation since 1993.

Finance Minister Youssef Kamal said in January that inflation in Qatar will be between zero and one per cent in 2011.-Reuters