Abu Dhabi: Average consumer prices in Abu Dhabi rose 0.7 per cent on the year in December, while inflation for the full year 2012 in the oil-rich emirate rose 1.1 per cent in 2012 compared with 2011, latest data from Statistics Centre Abu Dhabi (SCAD) showed on Saturday.
“The largest increase in prices during December 2012 compared with December 2011, was in the “restaurants and hotels” group, which advanced 14.5 per cent, followed by “clothing and footwear” (up 4.0 per cent), “alcoholic beverages and tobacco” (up 11.7 per cent) and “transport” (up 3.0 per cent),” SCAD said in a statement, while adding housing, water, electricity, gas prices retreated by 1.1 per cent.
In 2011, the emirate’s inflation stood at 1.9 per cent. According to the Ministry of Economy estimates.
inflation in the UAE in 2012 is expected to have not exceeded 2 per cent.
Commenting on the latest inflation figures, Mohammad Amerah, an Abu Dhabi-based economist told Gulf News by telephone: “The inflation in Abu Dhabi has risen at a moderate pace, there’s nothing alarming. It appears that the rise in consumer prices in 2012 was dictated by a change in the pattern of demand.”
Amerah added: ‘For 2013, I expect the inflation in the emirate of Abu Dhabi to remain well below 2 per cent as the government policies have helped curb inflationary pressures. A little inflation is good for the economy as a whole. Anything below 2 per cent should be well within the acceptable limits.”
The single largest contributor to the year-on-year rise in consumer prices during 2012 was the “restaurants and hotels” group, which contributed 51.8 percentage points to the increase as the group’s prices grew 16.4 per cent.
The next largest contributor to the rise in the consumer price index (CPI) during 2012 was the “food and non-alcoholic beverages” group which contributed 44.8 percentage points of the rise in the index during the twelve months of 2012 compared with the same period of 2011, SCAD said.
The main group that slowed down the rise in consumer prices during 2012 compared with 2011 was “housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels which detracted 45.7 percentage points from the overall change in the CPI, with the average prices of the group falling by 1.3 per cent between the periods compared, it added.
For the fourth quarter of 2012, average consumer prices increased 0.8 per cent, compared to the year-ago fourth quarter, said SCAD.
