The Consumer Price Index in Qatar decreased by 2.97% in September 2020 year-on-year

14-10-2020


The Planning and Statistics Authority issued the Consumer Price Index for September 2020. The index reached 96.45 points, recording an increase of 0.27 % compared to the previous month in August 2020, and a decrease of 2.97% compared to the corresponding month (September) of 2019.
This statement is considered the ninth publication of the Consumer Price Index on the base year of 2018, according to the results calculated from the data of the Household Expenditure and Income Survey 2017/2018. The Classification of Individual Consumption According to Purpose (CIOCOP) is used in the classification of consumer goods, as it consists of 12 main groups starting from Group food and non-alcoholic beverages and ends with a group of different goods and services, and under these groups fall 737 goods and services.
In view of the relative importance of the base year 2018, we see that the household pattern has not changed a lot during the previous five years, and that the relative importance between 2013 and 2018 is almost equal during this period, and no significant change has been observed. The food, beverage, housing, transport and culture groups are still of the greatest importance for consumer families. Graph No. (1) and table (1) illustrate the relative importance (weights) of commodity and service groups in the consumer price basket for the year 2018.
1. Monthly change (September 2020 from August 2020):
When comparing the main components of the index for September 2020 with the previous month, August 2020 (monthly change), it becomes clear that there is an increase in six groups, a decrease in two groups, and a stability of the index in four other groups.
The increase occurred in the entertainment and culture group by 2.23%, followed by the clothes and shoes group by 1.55%, the transportation group by 1.39%, the restaurants and hotels group by 0.13%, and the groups of furniture and home appliances and education rose by a slight percentage closer to stability, which is 0.01% for each.
While the group of other goods and services decreased by 1.17%, and the food and beverage group by 0.97%, the following groups did not change: tobacco, housing, water, electricity, gas, fuels, health, and communications. Table No. (2) shows the monthly and annual comparison of the index for the month of September 2020, and graphs (2) and (3) show the series of the monthly index series for the two groups of food and beverages, and the housing group, water, electricity, gas and other types of fuel, during 2019 and 2020.
2. Annual change (September 2020 versus September 2019):
Comparing September 2020 with the corresponding month in 2019 (annual change), it was found that there was a decrease in the general index of 2.97%, which is the result of the decrease in six groups: the entertainment and culture group by 20.98%, followed by the housing, water, electricity and gas group and various types Other fuels by 4.75%, the clothing and footwear group by 4.25%, the communications group by 0.81%, the food and beverage group by 0.27%, and the transportation group by 0.13%.
As for the annual increases, they occurred in six groups as well: the tobacco group by 8.37%, the restaurants and hotels group by 4.43%, the education group by 1.78%, the furniture and home appliances group by 1.48%, the health group by 0.95%, and the group of other goods and services by 0.60%. Chart (4) shows the monthly and annual change percentages of the general index during the period from September 2019 to September 2020.
By calculating the consumer price index for September 2020, after excluding the housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels group, it reached the point 97.73, recording an increase of 0.35%, compared to the previous month (August 2020), and a decrease of 2.41% compared to September 2019. Table No. (3) shows the general index after excluding the housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels group, while Chart No. (5) shows the annual percentage change in the general index and the index number after excluding the same aforementioned group, from September 2019 to September 2020 .


More News