Qatar's Consumer Price Index Decreases in April

Doha, May 15 (QNA) - The Consumer Price Index (CPI) of April, 2018 reached 108.52 (base year is 2013), showing a decrease of 0.4 percent, when compared to CPI of March, 2018. Compared to CPI of April, 2017, year-on-year basis (Y-o-Y) of 0.1 percent increase has been recorded in the general index (CPI) of this month. A month-on-month basis (M-o-M) analysis of CPI for April, 2018 compared with March, 2018 CPI, shows that there are five main groups, where respective indices in this month have decreased The Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics (MDPS) revealed that there was a decrease on "food and beverages" and "recreation and culture" by 1.4 percent each, "transport" by 0.8 percent. An increase was shown on "furniture and household equipment" by 0.2 percent, and "communication" by 0.1 percent. As well as an increase on "restaurants and hotels" by 0.5 percent, and "miscellaneous goods and services" by 0.3 percent. "tobacco", "clothing and footwear", "housing, water, electricity and gas", "health", and "education" groups, have remained flat at the last months price level. A comparison of the CPI, April 2018 with the CPI, April 2017 (annual change), an increase has been recorded in the general index (CPI), by 0.1 percent. This Y-o-Y price increase is primarily due to the increasing prices seen in the eight groups, namely: "transport" by 5.4 percent, "health" by 3.4 percent, "clothing and footwear" by 2.5 percent "food and beverages" by 2.1 percent. "Education" by 0.9 percent, "furniture and household equipment" by 0.8 percent, "restaurants and hotels" and "miscellaneous goods and services" by 0.7 percent each. Also there has been a decrease in price levels in four groups, namely: "housing, water, electricity and other fuel" by 4.6 percent, "recreation and culture" by 2.4 percent, "communication" by 1.0 percent. "Tobacco" prices remained at the same level. Regards the contribution relative, which is a percentage reflects the different contribution of the main groups on the CPI annual rate. For the month of April 2018, noticed that the "housing, water, electricity and other fuel" had the highest negative contribution by -1000.0 percent in the annual change of CPI, followed by "communication", which contributed positively, by 900.0 percent, "recreation and culture" contributed negatively, by -300.0 percent, "food and beverages" contributed positively by 200.0 percent, since its price increased by 2.1 percent compared with April 2017. "Clothing and footwear", "furniture and household equipment", "health", and "education " contributed positively by 100.0 percent each. The CPI of April, 2018 excluding "housing, water, electricity and other fuel" group stands at 108.57 showing a decrease of 0.6 percent when compared to the index of March 2018, and a 1.5 percent increase when compared to the CPI of April 2017. (QNA)