Consumer prices rose by a lower-than-expected 0.9 per cent in Morocco in 2010, with gains in food prices offset by lower communications costs, the state planning and statistics authority (HCP) said on Thursday. Morocco's central bank said in December it expected inflation of around 1 per cent, the same level as in 2009. The government expects that the 2010 economic growth stand at 4 per cent, and projects 5 per cent growth and 2 per cent inflation for 2011. Underlying inflation, used by the central bank to set benchmark interest rate and excluding volatile prices and state tariffs, edged up 0.3 per cent from a year ago and 0.4 per cent from November, the HCP said. The consumer price index recorded a 0.9 per cent drop in December compared to the previous month, it added. On the year, communication and culture-leisure prices fell 1.1 and 0.7 per cent, respectively. Prices of food, thought to be the heaviest weighted component in the index, rose 1.2 percent. The HCP did not give weighting percentages.
