JAKARTA, INDONESIA - RISING kerosene prices helped drive Indonesia's inflation rate to 8.96 percent in April, an official said on Friday.

The consumer price index (CPI) was up 0.57 per cent from March, Rusman Heriawan, chairman of the Central Bureau of Statistics, said at a news briefing.

'There was a shift (in inflationary pressure) from food to non-food in April,' he said.

Kerosene is widely used by poor Indonesian families but to reduce subsidy spending the government is encouraging poor families to switch to cheaper liquefied petroleum gas.

The annual increase was the fastest since September 2006 when consumer prices rose 14.55 per cent.

Mr Heriawan said annual inflation could exceed 9.0 per cent in May.

In March, inflation rose 8.17 per cent from a year earlier and was up 0.95 percent from February.

The April figures were largely within market expectations.

Mr Heriawan attributed the higher annual inflation figure to the lower base in April 2007 when consumer prices dropped 0.16 per cent. -- AFP