The costs of petrol increased in the first quarter of this year, boosting Dubai's rate of inflation.

Dubai's inflation increased by 0.74% on a yearly basis in the first quarter of this year, boosted by a huge rise in the prices of fuel, as revealed by the emirate's statistics centre.

The transport group of costs jumped by 9.72% as the costs of petrol jumped up by almost 23% informed the centre.

Even the costs of air tickets rose by 10.84%, as displayed by the latest data.

The costs of food along with that of non-alcoholic drinks leaped by 5.64% in the first quarter of 2011 as against to the same period last year.

Other factors behind the increase in the rate of inflation in the first quarter of 2011 were education, health and restaurants and hotels, as displayed by the data.

Meanwhile, the costs of the housing, water, electricity, gas, along with other fuels group fell by 3.31%, added the report.

The yearly inflation in the UAE member state was somewhere less than a percent for the majority of last year, in the wake of lending and the property sector continuing to be weak.