| Kippreport.com

Inflation grips UAE

May 22, 2010 2:59 by Samuel Potter

For the second month running, consumer prices in the UAE climbed, reports the Gulf News.

The paper quotes information from the National Bureau of Statistics that says year-on-year overall prices climbed 0.78 percent in April, led by food costs. The heavyweight food and non-alcoholic beverage component of the inflation calculation jumped a whopping 4.52 percent compared to a year earlier.

David Macadam, head of retail at Jones Lang Lasalle, told the paper that rising food and commodity prices were a worldwide phenomenon and not just isolated to the UAE. However, he said the UAE’s unique import situation contributed to the rise.

“The majority of food that comes into this area comes from different countries. So a lot of the price increase has to do with the rising cost of jet fuel, which is double what it was about a year ago,” he said.

Tags: food, import, inflation, prices, rise, UAE