DOHA: Education, house rents, water & electricity pushed up Qatar’s inflation rate by 2.8 percent in January from a year ago.
Latest consumer price index (CPI) details show that house rents climbed 7.1 percent in January from the same month in 2015. The year-on-year surge is primarily due to increasing prices in eight groups including education, the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics (MDPS) stated yesterday.
Recreation and culture rose by 6.1 percent on y-o-y, while housing, water , electricity and gas jumped 6.0 percent. Furniture and household equipment’ edged 2.1 percent up, clothing and footwear increased 1.4 percent and transport increased 1.5 percent. No change has been recorded in “Tobacco” group.
The inflation rate rose 0.6 percent on month-on-month, with “Transport” group rising the most by 3.1 percent. Recreation and culture was up by 1.7 percent, which clothing & footwear and restaurants and hotels increased by 1.3 percent, from December 2015.
The CPI of January, 2015 excluding housing, water, electricity and gas group stands at 104.09, an increase by 0.7 percent, when compared to the index of December 23015; and an increase of 2.8 percent in comparison to the CPI of January, 2015.
The food and beverages became cheaper by 1.4 percent in January from a year ago and 2.5 percent from December 2015. Furniture and household equipment became costlier by 2.1 percent from January 2015 and 0.8 percent from December 2015.
The Peninsula
