Abu Dhabi inflation declines in January

Abu Dhabi: Inflation in the emirate of Abu Dhabi fell 0.3 per cent in January compared to a month ago, latest figures released yesterday by the Statistics Centre-Abu Dhabi (SCAD) showed.

"The single largest drop was observed in the prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages, which fell by 1.6 per cent, followed by miscellaneous goods and services, which declined by 1.5 per cent over the same period," SCAD said in a statement.

Giyas Gokkent, chief economist at the National Bank of Abu Dhabi told Gulf News: "A number of factors have been acting as moderating elements on inflation in Abu Dhabi. The FAO food price index declined between February and December 2011 on the back of good harvests.

"In addition, US dollar strength translates to lower imported inflation given exchange rate pegs. We believe that inflation will remain low in the near term in Abu Dhabi weighed down by declining rents."

Comparison of monthly year-over-year figures showed average consumer prices advanced 0.8 per cent last month compared with January 2011, said SCAD.

"Alcoholic beverages and tobacco accounted for the largest increase [7.4 per cent] during the aforesaid period, followed by restaurants and hotels [up 6.9 per cent], education" [up 4.8 per cent] and food and non-alcoholic beverages [up 4.7 per cent], it added.

SCAD said a breakdown by household type showed that consumer prices advanced 1.0 per cent for national households last month compared with January 2011.

The corresponding rise for other household types was 0.5 per cent for non-national households and 0.9 per cent for collective households.

In contrast, consumer prices for national and non-national households decreased by 0.3 per cent last month.