Riyadh – Mubasher: The Saudi wholesale price index (WPI) rose by 5.7% on a yearly basis in October 2020, down from 6% in the previous month.
This increase was driven by higher prices of agriculture and fishery products by 16.8%, coupled with the overall impact of the increase of the value-added tax (VAT) from 5% to 15% in July, according to data by the General Authority for Statistics (GaStat).
Meanwhile, prices of refined petroleum products fell by 19.1% yearly.
On the other hand, prices of metal products, machinery and equipment went up by 13.3% whilst prices of food products, beverages, tobacco and textiles grew by 12.4%.
Month-on-month (MoM), the WPI inched up by 0.1% in October, attributed to a monthly increase of 5.5% in the prices of raw ores and minerals.
