Qatar Producer Price Index Down 10.6% in December

Doha, February 27 (QNA) - Producer Price Index (PPI) for the State of Qatar decreased 10.6% last December month-on-month, the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics (MDPS) said Friday in its report. The index decreased 28.9% compared to December of 2013. The figure currently stands at 125.4. The index covers Mining, Electricity & Water and Manufacturing activities. The mining sector, which represents 77% of the index's weight, declined 11% month-on-month. The fall was mainly due to the decline in Crude petroleum and natural gas. Manufacturing, which weighs in at 21% of the index, was down 10% month-on-month. Manufactured retreated due to the fall in the prices of chemicals by 15.7% The PPI of "Electricity and water" group (with 2.0% weightage) shows an increase of 0.8%, resulting from the effect of price rise seen in Water by 2.6% and a decrease in Electricity by 0.4%. Year-on-year, mining, electricity and water and manufacturing were down 29.1%, 4.9% and 29.3%. (QNA)