Saudi Arabia's annual inflation, as measured by the cost of living index, rose slightly to 2.9 per cent in April as the cost of some food products climbed, state news agency SPA reported.

Compared to its level in the previous month, the index rose 0.1 per cent in April, SPA said on Friday, quoting a report from the Economy and Planning Ministry's statistics and data department. Annual inflation was 2.86 per cent in March.

The ministry said food and beverages drove April's inflation, with prices for locally-produced potatos rising 80 per cent and eggs 19.7 per cent. Rents rose 7.5 per cent.

Annual inflation showed its first drop in nine months when it slipped to 2.86 per cent in March from 3 per cent in February, which brought it back to below its level at the end of December, when it was at 2.9 per cent.

Inflation has been rising for more than a year as record oil revenues boosted the economy and the riyal's peg to the weakening US dollar drove up the cost of some imports, analysts said.

John Sfakianakis, chief economist for SABB bank, said it was normal for inflation to rise again in April after a surge in money supply. Annual growth in M3, the broadest measure of money supply, reached 17.7 per cent in April, against 15.7 per cent in March.