Saudi inflation jumps to 6.1% after VAT increase

Saudi Arabia's consumer price index jumped 6.1% in July compared with a year earlier, boosted by a tripling of value-added tax, official data showed on Sunday.The inflation rate in June was 0.5%, the smallest annual increase since January, before the VAT increase to 15% from 5% came into effect on July 1.Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, said in May that it would triple VAT as it sought to shore up finances hit by the twin shock of low oil prices and the coronavirus pandemic.