OECD: Inflation stable at 1.9% in the industrialised world

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), made up of 34 of the world's most industrialised nations, said Tuesday that annual average inflation in its member economies was stable in December 2012 at 1.9 percent, unchanged from the previous month. Energy prices rose an average of 2.9 percent and food price inflation was put at 2.1 percent, on a year-on-year basis through December. Excluding food and energy, the OECD inflation rate was 1.5 percent over the same 12-month period. Average Euro area inflation was unchanged at 2.2 percent in December from the annual average in November. But outside the OECD area, there was a more marked increase in prices in some emerging economies: annual inflation increased in China to 2.5 percent from 2.0 percent and to 5.8 percent from 5.5 percent in Brazil. Inflation in the Russian Federation rose to 6.6 percent from 6.5 percent, while it was stable in Indonesia at 4.3 percent.