|
Riyadh: Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has summoned the interior minister and provincial governors to explain rising inflation, which hit a seven-year high in August, reports said on Saturday.
The king asked for "prompt reports" at the last weekly government meeting on Monday, Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz said in remarks published on Thursday and Friday.
Inflation in August was 4.4 per cent from a year earlier, driven mainly by a record 12.1 percent jump in rents and a 6.6 per cent rise in prices of food products, according to data released this week.
The data raised pressure on the central bank which is torn between the need to contain prices and avoid appreciation of its dollar-pegged currency.
|
