Burundi yr/yr inflation jumps to 21.6 pct in Jan

Wed Feb 15, 2012 12:56pm GMT

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BUJUMBURA Feb 15 (Reuters) - Burundi's year-on-year inflation rate jumped to 21.6 percent in January from 14.9 percent in December, driven up by high costs of housing, water and energy, its statistics board said on Wednesday.

Prices of housing, water and energy rose sharply to 32.6 percent in the year to January, up from 8.3 percent in December, the Institute of Economic Studies and Statistics (ISTEEBU) said in its monthly report.

The central African nation's government increased electricity and water tariffs for households respectively to 124 percent and 266 percent from September last year.

The landlocked country's government predicts that inflation will slow to 8.4 percent by the end of this year.

Authorities predict the country's economy will grow 4.8 percent in 2012 after 4.2 percent expansion in 2011, thanks to an improved business climate. (Reporting by Patrick Nduwimana; Editing by James Macharia)

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