Cambodia saw a one per cent rise in inflation in April compared with the same month last year, according to the latest data from the National Institute of Statistics (NIS).

Sim Ly, an official at the NIS said there was a slight increase in food and beverage prices during that month, a time of celebration in Cambodia, when demand for food increases during the Khmer New Year.

“We have seen some prices of food, fruit, vegetable and beverage products increase, but it was lower than it was in April last year ,” said Sim Ly, an official at NIS.

Ly said the country’s inflationary rate is still low compared to other countries in the region.

The NIS’s data showed that the price of food and non-alcoholic beverages rose by 2.1 per cent – mainly due to to an increase of 1.6 per cent for the price of rice.

Fresh beef increased by 18 per cent, chicken went up by 4.1 per cent, and vegetables went up by 6.3 per cent.

The price of clothing and footwear increased by 3.7 per cent, while the price of gasoline decreased by 7.8 per cent.

Costs of Furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance increased 2.8 per cent, and the price for recreation and culture, an umbrella category for entertainment, went up by five per cent.

Restaurant prices went up by 2.5 per cent.

The government projected the inflation rate to be within four per cent this year, more than the International Monetary Fund’s rate of 3.1.

Cambodia’s economic growth is forecast at 7.2 per cent in 2013, picking up to 7.5 per cent next year as recovery in Europe and the United States takes hold, according to an April report from the Asian Development Bank.

The NIS has also said the stabilisation of the riel against the dollar in recent years has contributed slightly to the inflationary rate.

The central bank’s daily report yesterday showed that the exchange rate stood at 4,062 riel to the dollar.