Sudan inflation climbs to 13.1 pct year/year in September

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan's annual inflation rate rose to 13.1 percent in September from 11.3 percent in August, the Central Statistics Office said on Wednesday. Prices soared in Sudan after South Sudan seceded in 2011, taking with it three-quarters of the country's oil output, the main source of foreign currency used to support the Sudanese pound and to pay for food and other imports. Cuts in fuel subsidies introduced in 2013 also pushed up inflation, but these effects have since begun to ease. The latest increase in inflation was a result of rising prices for food and services in September, a statement from the Central Statistics Office said. The annual inflation rate reached 46.8 percent in July 2014 as the price of consumer goods and services surged, but it then came down as the impact of the 2013 fuel subsidy cuts eased. As an oil importer, Sudan has also benefited from the fall in global oil prices since last year. Sudan's Omar Hassan al-Bashir was re-elected president in April. His party claimed credit for pulling the economy out of a tailspin after the South's secession.