RABAT (Reuters) - Moroccan consumer prices rose 2.1 percent in the first eight months of 2007 as housing and food got more expensive, official data showed on Thursday.

Housing prices grew 3.7 percent from the same period a year earlier, while food costs rose 3.0 percent, the High Planning Commission said in a statement. Transport and communication was the only category to decline, falling 1.7 percent.

The headline inflation figure was unchanged from a month earlier. The government envisages an inflation rate of around 2.0 percent this year.

Inflation for 2006 was 3.3 percent, above a government forecast of 2.0 percent because of higher oil prices and a severe drought that cut domestic crops and made food more costly.