Doha: Qatar’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) witnessed a marginal increase of 0.65 percent in December compared to the previous month (November 2021), reaching at 102.14 points.
When compared on annual basis, the consumer prices in Qatar (as per the general CPI index) in December have also increased by 6.47 percent compared to the CPI of the same month in 2020, data released by the Planning and Statistics Authority (PSA) show. The PSA added that the average rate of change between 2021 and 2020 stood at 2.3 percent.
An month-on-month (M-o-M) analysis of the CPI for December 2021 compared with CPI of November 2021, showed that there were six main groups, where respective indices in this month have increased, namely: “Recreation and Culture” by 4.89 percent, “Communication” by 1.27 percent, “Clothing and Footwear” by 0.55 percent, “Housing, Water, Electricity and other Fuel” by 0.52 percent, “Transport” by 0.12 percent, and a slight increase in “Miscellaneous Goods and Services” by 0.05 percent.
A decrease has been recorded only in “Food and Beverages” by 0.64 percent. While “Tobacco”, “Furniture and Household Equipment”, “Health”, “Education” and “Restaurants and Hotels” had remained flat at the last month’s price level.
A comparison of the CPI for December 2021 with the CPI of December 2020 (annual change), showed an increase has been recorded in the general index (CPI) by 6.47 percent. This year-on-year (Y-o-Y) price increase was primarily due to the prices rising in nine groups namely: “Recreation and Culture” by 37.31 percent, followed by “Transport” by 11.28 percent, “Food and Beverages” by 6.73 percent, “Clothing and Footwear” by 6.17 percent, “Furniture and Household Equipment” by 3.64 percent, “Miscellaneous Goods and Services” by 2.57 percent, “Restaurants and Hotels” by 2.11 percent, “Communication” by 1.88 percent, and “Education” by 1.09 percent.
A decrease has been shown in price levels in “Housing, Water, Electricity and other Fuel” by 2.71 percent and “Health” by 1.39 percent. No changes have been recorded on “Tobacco”.
The CPI of December 2021, excluding “Housing, Water, Electricity and other Fuel” group stood at 105.99 points, showing an increase of 0.68 percent, when compared to the index of November 2021, and an increase of 8.76 percent when compared to the CPI of December 2020.
