London: Bahrain’s statistics office released the following February consumer price data on Thursday. Housing and utility costs, which account for 24 per cent of consumer expenses, rose 6.9 per cent year-on-year in February but remained unchanged month-on-month for the fifth month in a row.

Prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages, which account for 16 per cent of the basket, increased 6.2 per cent on an annual basis, the highest rate since March 2012, and 3 per cent from the previous month.

Analysts polled by Reuters in January expected average inflation of 3 per cent in both 2014 and 2015, down from 3.3 per cent in 2013.