Riyadh – Mubasher: The Saudi Consumer Price Index (CPI) witnessed a 6.1% annual growth in July 2020, well above the previous month’s rate of 0.5% after the value-added tax (VAT) was tripled to 15% from 5% at the beginning of the month.
This rise reflects increases in consumer prices across the kingdom in July, according to the data of the General Authority for Statistics (GaStat).
Most of the main expenditure categories saw annual hikes in prices; however, the rise of the CPI was driven by the higher prices of food and beverages by 14.3% and transport by 7.3%, given their weight in the index.
In contrast, prices of fuel and gasoline contracted by 17.1% and 15.5%, respectively, partly offsetting price increases in other consumption categories.
On a month-on-month (MoM) basis, the CPI went up by 5.9%, ascribed to the increase in average prices of transport by 13.7%, coupled with higher food and beverages prices by 7.4%.
