Dubai's inflation rate slowed to 5.4 per cent in the first five months of 2009, compared to 8.7 per cent a year earlier, the head of Dubai Statistics Center (DCS) was quoted as saying on Saturday.

Rental prices for residential units had risen 3.2 per cent in January to May this year, compared to a 5.4 per cent increase in the same period in 2008, Arif Obaid al-Muhairi was quoted as saying in daily newspaper al-Khaleej.

Rents in Dubai, one of seven members of the UAE federation, have at least doubled during a building boom that came to an end late last year after the financial crisis and oil prices dropped off peaks of almost $150 a barrel last July.

In June, the UAE's central bank governor said a rapid price fall in the country, which saw inflation drop to 1.9 per cent in April, would not lead to deflation. – Reuters