Consumer prices in Gulf countries up by 4.6 per cent: Report

MUSCAT: Price change for consumer goods and services (excluding housing) in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries rose by 4.6 per cent over the 12 months period to September 2018, according to figures released on Tuesday by the Statistical Centre for the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC-Stat).

The biggest increases were for tobacco 21.0 per cent, transport 10.4 per cent, restaurant and hotels by 6.7 per cent, food 4.1 per cent, recreation 3.3 per cent, furnishings 3.2 per cent, health 2.7 per cent, education 2.4 per cent, communication 1.7 per cent, miscellaneous 1.0 per cent, and clothing and footwear 0.6 per cent.

In terms of contributions to the 4.6 per cent annual increase, transport contributed 1.7 percentage points, food 1.1 percentage points, restaurant and hotels 0.5 percentage points, furnishings 0.3 percentage points, tobacco and education, 0.2 percentage points each, health, communication, recreation and miscellaneous 0.1 percentage points each.

Over the 12 months to September 2018, the country contributions to overall GCC consumer price change were UAE 2.2 percentage points, Saudi Arabia 2.1 percentage points, Kuwait 0.1 percentage points, Bahrain, Oman and Qatar contributed 0.2 percentage points.

September prices

GCC overall consumer prices have decreased in September 2018 compared with the previous month by -0.2 per cent.

The most significant price decrease during September 2018 were in Recreation -2.2 per cent, transport -1.1 per cent, miscellaneous -0.7 per cent, communication and restaurant and hotels by -0.1 per cent each.

In contrast, clothing” and education increased by 0.6 per cent each, food and furnishings 0.3 per cent each and tobacco by 0.1 per cent, while there was no change in prices of health group compared with the previous month.