Doha, Qatar: Consumer Price Index (CPI) witnessed sharp growth during the third quarter of 2022, according to the latest data released by Planning and Statistics Authority (PSA).
In its report entitled ‘Window on Economic Statistics of Qatar’, PSA stated that there was a vital surge of more than one percent compared to the same quarter in 2021. It said that “The quarterly CPI for the third quarter of 2022 shows an increase of 1.5 percent when compared to the previous quarter, and a 5.4 percent increase when compared to the corresponding quarter of 2021.”
It highlighted that “The observed 1.5 percent increase in comparison with the previous quarter is the net effect of rises in some groups and falls in others.”
Some of the classified groups that depict an increase in the category include ‘Recreation and Culture’ at 5.5 percent, followed by ‘Housing, Water, Electricity & Gas’ at 3.2 percent, and ‘Food and Beverages’ at 2.5 percent. ‘Clothing and Footwear’, and ‘Restaurants and Hotels’ increased by 1.5 percent, while ‘Education’ witnessed 0.4 percent rise.
Although the mentioned groups showed a decent increase, some of the groups recorded a decrease. These include ‘Miscellaneous Goods and Service” by 2.8 percent, ‘Communication’ by 2.1 percent, ‘Transport” by 0.3 percent, and ‘Health’ by 0.2 percent. However, ‘Furnishings and Household equipment’ remains unchanged during Q3 2022 as per the given data.
“The 5.4 percent y-o-y increase in the CPI is the effect of a rise in some groups and drop in others. The group that recorded the highest increase was ‘Recreation and culture’, where prices were up by 32.0 percent. The group with the highest decrease was ‘Health’, where prices dropped by 3.3 percent.
According to CEIC data, the CPI growth in the country was measured at 3.7 percent y-o-y during April 2023 whereas it recorded 4 percent in the previous month.
PSA also revealed that the base year of the CPI was changed from 2013 to 2018.
