DOHA: Qatar’s year-on-year inflation rose to 2.7 percent in December 2013, mainly due to a consistent rise in rentals and partly driven by food, energy and entertainment prices, official data released yesterday show.
According to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) released by the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics, increases were recorded in all major groups of commodities and services except the ‘Miscellaneous Goods and Services’ group which declined by 5.4 percent in 2013 since December 2012.
However, the CPI of December 2013 remains unchanged at the previous month’s level (November 2013) of 115.5 (2007 base prices).
The highest increases were recorded in ‘Entertainment, Recreation and Culture’ — 5.2 percent — followed by ‘Rentals, Fuel and Energy’ group, up by 4.8 percent at the end of December 2013.
Month-on-month basis comparisons show rentals and prices of fuel, energy, garments and footwear witnessed a marginal decline of 0.2 percent in December compared to November 2013.
Miscellaneous Goods and Services’ group shows a price decline of 0.8 percent and “Transport and Communications’ prices fell by 0.2 percent.
A CPI exclusive of ‘Rentals, Fuel and Energy’ group has also been calculated. After eliminating effects of rentals, the overall index has reached 126.6, showing a marginal fall of 0.1 percent compared to the CPI of November 2013, and a rise of 1.9 percent compared to December 2012. The Peninsula
