Abu Dhabi's inflation hits 3.59% in August

Abu Dhabi: The monthly average consumer price index (CPI) in Abu Dhabi reached 3.59 per cent in August, the Statistics Centre Abu Dhabi said on Tuesday.

The average rise in consumer prices for the first eight months of 2010 was 2.67 per cent compared to the same period of 2009, the centre said in a report.

"This is evident from the advance in the CPI for the period January-August 2010 to 118.29 points, up from 115.22 points over the same period of 2009," the report said.

Dr Peter Crossman, assistant director-general for Technical Affairs at the Statistics Centre in Abu Dhabi, told Gulf News that the sampling process was a regimen of goods and services. "Food, clothing, household goods — it is representative of an average household," Crossman said.

"Data collected from previous surveys gives weights that allow us to average the prices to form the consumer price index." UAE economist Mohammad Al Asoomi said inflation in Abu Dhabi was expected to stabilise next year.

Real estate stability

"Rents have stabilised, which was the main reason for inflation in Abu Dhabi," Al Asoomi said. "I think next year inflation in Abu Dhabi will also stabilise at around the same level," he said.

Statistics Centre Abu Dhabi said the percentage monthly year-on-year rise in the CPI for August 2010 was 3.59 per cent, as the index advanced from 115.75 points in August 2009 to 119.91 points in August 2010. "The percentage month-to-month rise in the CPI for August 2010 compared to July 2010 was 0.81 per cent," the centre said in its report.

The report said an overall 2.67 per cent rise in year-over-year consumer prices for the first eight months raised consumer prices for national households by 2.13 per cent, compared to 3.51 per cent for non-national households and 1.81 per cent for collective households.

"An increase in the CPI does not necessarily imply higher prices for all the goods and services that make up the consumer basket, nor does it mean that all goods and services have increased by the same percentage (2.67 per cent) for there are goods and services whose prices have risen at rates above the overall rate (2.67 per cent) and others whose rate of increase was below the general average," the Statistics Centre Abu Dhabi said.

"There are also goods and services whose prices have fallen. However, the net change or the combined outcome of these changes in the prices of the consumer basket during the first eight months of 2010 compared to the same period in 2009 produced an overall increase in prices."