Qatar's Consumer Price Index Up 0.7% In February 2017 Year-On-Year

MAR 14, 2017

Qatar's Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the month of February 2017, reached 108.4, an increase by 0.1 percent, compared to CPI of January 2017, the Ministry of Development Planning & Statistics (MDPS) has said. On year-on-year (y-o-y) basis, CPI in February 2017, has recorded a growth of 0.7 percent compared to February 2016, MDPS data showed on Monday.

The y-o-y price surge is primarily due to the increasing prices seen in the five groups, namely: “Transport" by 5.9 percent”, “Education" by 3.0 percent, “Miscellaneous Goods and Services" by 1.8 percent, “Furniture and Household Equipment" by 1.4 percent, and “Clothing and Footwear" by 0.2 percent. 

Also, there has been a decrease in price levels in six groups, namely: “Restaurants and Hotels" by 2.5 percent, “Recreation and Culture" by 1.7 percent, “Food and Beverages" by 0.5 percent, “Housing, Water, Electricity and other Fuel" by 0.4 percent, “Health" by 0.2 percent, and “Communication" by 0.1 percent. Meanwhile, for “Tobacco group", there are no changes recorded. On month-on-month basis, CPI for February 2017, shows that there are five main groups, where respective indices in this month have increased, namely: “Food and Beverages" and “Miscellaneous Goods and Services" by 1.8 percent each, “Transport" by 0.8 percent, “Clothing and Footwear" by 0.4 percent, and “Furniture and Household Equipment" by 0.1 percent. 

A decrease in prices is also noticed in “Recreation and Culture" by 1.5 percent, and “Housing, Water, Electricity and other Fuel" by 0.6 percent. 

The other groups;"Tobacco","Health","Communication","Education", and “Restaurants and Hotels" have remained flat at the last month's price level. 

The CPI of February, 2017 excluding “Housing, Water, Electricity and other Fuel" group stands at 106.6, showing an increase by 0.4 percent when compared to the index of January 2016.