Ljubljana - Slovenia's annual inflation rate accelerated to 4.6% in November from 3% in the month before, the highest it has been since late 2008, on the back of higher prices of oil derivatives, show the latest Statistics Office data. At the monthly level prices were up by 0.7%.

Surging prices of oil derivatives - petrol was up by 41.5% at the annual level and diesel by almost 47% - were the driving force behind the annual rate, contributing 1.8 percentage points to the overall consumer price growth.

Price rises, albeit an order of magnitude lower, were also recorded in other groups, for example district heating, cars, restaurants and clothing.

The only groups where prices dropped were telecommunications and health services.

At the monthly level the biggest contributors to inflation included fuels and clothing, which each accounted for 0.2 percentage points of the monthly consumer price increase.

Measured with the harmonised index of consumer prices, an EU gauge, annual inflation hit 4.9%, up from 3.5% in the previous month.