Saudi inflation rate is on the rise for the second month in a row, official data showed. The annual inflation rate reached 0.8 percent in October, up from September’s 0.6 percent, according to data released by General Authority for Statistics. The Kingdom’s inflation rate is now also higher than its 20-month low in August, when it stood at 0.3 percent. Inflationary pressures were driven by higher prices of the food and beverages index and costlier transport which increased by 1.4 percent and 6.4 percent respectively. These two groups have the highest weighting in the index, at 19 and 13 percent respectively. Growth in food and beverages slowed from 2.41 percent in September. Compared to the last year, a rise in the transport price index resulted mainly from the 47.9 percent growth in gasoline prices. It would be pertinent to mention that the education price index experienced a spike, jumping 4.8 percent year-on-year in October. Evidently, this was driven by a 13.7 percent year-on-year rise in the secondary education sub-category, the highest rates of growth seen since at least January 2013. Education is assigned a weighting of 3 percent in the general consumer price index. In addition, deflation in the housing and utilities sector eased in October, as prices decreased at a softer rate. On a monthly basis, the inflation rate was 0.25 percent in October, slightly up from September’s 0.2 percent. The monthly rise in prices was mainly due to a 3.9 percent jump in education prices. Capital Economics, an economic research firm, said that it expects the Kingdom’s inflation to edge higher in the coming months. However, the firm projects that it will remain within the range of 1 to 2 percent in 2022-23. This is unlike other parts of the emerging world which experienced higher inflationary pressures, the research firm added.