Mubasher: The GCC consumer price index (CPI) increased 4.6% year-on-year in September, according to the Statistical Centre for the Cooperation Council for the Arab Countries of the Gulf's (GCC-STAT) data.
The UAE’s inflation contributed 2.2 percentage point (pp) to the total Gulf inflation, followed by Saudi Arabia with 2.1 pp, Kuwait with 0.1 pp, while Bahrain, Oman and Qatar each accounted for 0.2 pp.
Year-on-year, the prices of hotels and restaurants advanced by 6.7% in September, while the prices of tobacco and transportation grew 21% and 10.4%, respectively.
Meanwhile, the prices of food and beverages rose 4.1%, leisure adding 3.3%, furniture jumping 3.2%, and healthcare growing 2.7%.
In the same vein, the prices of education hiked 2.4%, followed by telecommunications with1.7%, diversified goods and services with 1%, and clothing and footwear with 0.6%, according to the GCC-STAT data.
On a monthly basis, the GCC inflation retracted 0.2% in September, as six categories fell, led by leisure and transportation, which declined 2.2% and 1.1%, respectively.
The GCC CPI covers the six Gulf countries, however, it excludes housing, water, electricity, gas and other types of fuel.
