RABAT Dec 20 (Reuters) – Consumer prices in Morocco rose an annual 0.5 percent in November having fallen for the second time this year in October, data showed on Thursday.
Food prices rose 0.6 percent in November, data from the state’s High Planning Authority showed.
Underlying inflation, a gauge used by Morocco’s central bank to set the benchmark interest rate that excludes state tariffs and volatile prices, rose by an annual 1.2 percent against 1.1 percent in October.
The data was released ahead of a meeting later on Tuesday at which the central bank is widely expected to keep benchmark interest rates unchanged at 3.25 percent. The bank has pencilled a 1.4 percent inflation forecast for 2011.
(Reporting By Souhail Karam; Editing by John Stonestreet)
