ABU DHABI: Inflation in Abu Dhabi surged 2.4 per cent in April when compared with the same period last year, as ‘housing, water, power, gas and other fuels continued to add pressure on prices. However, the CPI dropped 0.1 per cent in a month-on-month comparison in April 2016, says Statistics Centre Abu Dhabi. The inflation in consumer prices for the first four months compared with the same period of 2015 was 3.0 per cent as shown by the increase in the CPI to 105.6 points.
The ‘Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels’ group accounted for the largest rise in the index during for first four months of the year, contributing 82.6 per centage points as a result of an increase of 7.5 per cent in the prices of this group. The report shows the weight or relative importance and change for each of the twelve major expenditure groups, which are grouped as per the Classification of Individual Consumption according to Purpose (COICOP), indicating an overall y-o-y change of 3.0 per cent over the first four months of 2016.
The ‘Miscellaneous goods and services’ group contributed 7.7 per centage points to the overall increase in the CPI for first four months of 2016 compared with the same period of 2015. The prices of this group increased by 3.3 per cent over the same period. The ‘Food and beverages’ group contributed 1.2 per centage points to the overall increase in the CPI for first four months of 2016 compared with the same period of 2015, reflecting an increase of 4.8 per cent . , in the prices of this group over the same period.
A breakdown of the 3.0 per cent increase in consumer prices during January-April 2016 compared with January-April 2015 by welfare level shows increases of 3.0 per cent in consumer prices for households of the bottom and the middle welfare quintiles; and 2.9 per cent for the top welfare level. Food, beverage which has 12.3 per cent affected 1.2 per cent change in inflation, education 4.4 per cent, restaurant five per cent; miscellaneous goods and services 3.3 per cent.
