RIYADH, May 26: Saudi Arabia’s annual inflation rate was 2.2 per cent in the first quarter of this year, the central bank said on Saturday, showing its first decline in several months.

“The average cost of living index showed during the first quarter of 2007 ... an annual rise of 2.2 per cent,” the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) said in a quarterly economic report.

It gave no comparative figure for the same period of 2006. SAMA did not provide inflation figures for the month of March as it usually does in monthly economic reports. The latest monthly report showed annual inflation at 3pc in February compared to 2.98pc in January due mainly to rises in prices of food.

Until recently, inflation had barely exceeded 1.4 per cent for more than five years. Inflation had been on the rise for more than a year due to a boom fuelled by record oil revenues and a slide against other currencies of the US dollar.—Reuters