Iraq inflation falls to 6.9% from 7.3% in September

[Stillw8n]

Iraq inflation falls to 6.9% from 7.3% in September

BAGHDAD: Iraq’s core annual rate of inflation fell to 6.9 percent in October from 7.3 percent in September, driven mainly by a dip in the cost of food items, a central bank official said on Tuesday.

A fall in the cost of clothes and industrial items also helped lower inflation last month, central bank Deputy Gov. Mudher Kasim told Reuters by telephone.
“It is a good decrease, the trend is declining,” he said.

Core inflation excludes expenditure on fuel.

Iraq is slowly trying to rebuild as it recovers from decades of war and economic sanctions. Its economy is dominated by oil, which accounts for around 95 percent of government revenue.

Finance Minister Rafie Al-Esawi said in September Iraq aimed to keep inflation at 5 percent in 2012.

Another central bank deputy governor, Ahmed Al-Buraihi, said in June that the country’s core annual inflation rate was not expected to exceed 7 percent in 2011.

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