Abu Dhabi: Consumer prices declined by 0.8 per cent in 2019 compared with 2018 according to the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report of the Statistics Centre — Abu Dhabi (SCAD).
According to the report, CPI in 2019 averaged 110.7 points, down 0.8 per cent from 111.6 points compared to the previous year.
Comparison of monthly price data showed a 0.7 per cent fall in the CPI to 109.6 points in December 2019, down from 110.3 points in November 2019. The index also dropped by 1.0 per cent in December 2019 compared with December 2018.
SCAD’s CPI report presents the contribution of each of the main 12 expenditure groups to the overall change in consumer prices during 2019. The groups are categorised according to the International Classification of Individual Consumption according to Purpose (COICOP).
The largest contributor to the overall decrease in consumer prices during 2019 compared with 2018 was the ‘housing, water, electricity, gas and fuel’ group, which contributed 140.7 percentage points to the overall decrease in the CPI in 2019 compared with 2018, as the group’s prices dropped by 3.7 per cent.
The ‘transport’ group decreased by 5.3 per cent during 2019 compared with 2018, contributing 93.2 percentage points to the overall decrease in consumer prices during 2019. The ‘food and beverages’ group contributed 29.6 percentage points to the overall decrease in the CPI during 2019 compared with 2018 as the group’s prices declined by 2.1 per cent.
Prices for the ‘recreation and culture’ group increased by 24.6 per cent during 2019 compared with 2018. The group detracted 132.5 percentage points from the overall fall in the CPI in 2019.
