Abu Dhabi: Consumer prices in the UAE rose to a six-month high in January, driven by the rising costs of food and housing, data showed on Sunday.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) revealed that the country's Consumer Price Index (CPI) reached 116.91 in January, up 0.3 per cent over Dec-ember and 0.7 per cent higher than in the same period last year.
NBS attributed the rise to a 0.75 per cent increase in housing prices and a 1.6 per cent rise in the price of clothing.
Meanwhile, inflation in Abu Dhabi and Dubai fell by 0.33 per cent and 0.94 per cent respectively, while increasing by 2.35 per cent in Sharjah.
The news came on the day when Abu Dhabi's Department of Economic Development held talks with supermarkets on price control measures.
Discussions
Hashem Al Nuaimi, head of the Consumer Protection Department (CPD), said that discussions to fix prices of up to 800 commodities were still under way.
But economist Gary Dugan told Gulf News that capping prices was unlikely to have a major effect on reining in inflation in the UAE as the global market would dictate what happens in future.
"Price controls and subsidies can be effective for the short term, but not in the long term," he said.
"In the long run, supply and demand will play their role to settle prices — inflation is a global phenomenon."
