Foreign factors such as higher prices fuel about 40 percent of UAE inflation, while rising rents are the main domestic driver, the economy minister said on Monday.

'Almost 60 percent of inflation in the UAE is due to local attributors, 40 percent to international contributors,' Sultan bin Saeed al-Mansouri told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting with cement producers in Dubai.

'We have also seen an increase in oil prices, which has affected energy prices in the UAE,' Mansouri said. 'In the UAE, number one is rent. The second are services and transportation.'    

Last year food accounted for less than 5 percent of UAE inflation, Mansouri said.

'Our inflation different from what you see in the UK and Saudi where rent is much lower than what you have here,' he said. - Reuters