Abu Dhabi CPI inches up

Abu Dhabi consumer prices rose 1.2 per cent in the first 10 months of the year on higher food stuff prices. Statistics Centre – Abu Dhabi — in its monthly report on the consumer price index, or CPI, and the inflation rate in Abu Dhabi for the month of October and the first 10 months of 2012 — said that inflation reached 1.2 per cent year-on-year in the year-to-date period. On a month-to-month, comparison inflation grew 0.8 per cent. The single largest contributor to the year-on-year rise in consumer prices during the first ten months of 2012 was the food group, which accounted for 52.5 per cent of the rise in the index during the period. The prices of coffee, tea and cocoa surged by 8.5 per cent, followed by the meat subgroup, which rose 7.1 per cent. Edible oil prices went up 6.1 per cent followed, by fish and seafood, which were expensive by six per cent. Vegetables were costlier by 5.6 per cent. The next largest contributor to the overall year-on-year rise in consumer prices over the first ten months of 2012 was the restaurants and hotels group, which accounted for 49.3 per cent of the increase in the CPI during this period, as prices climbed 16.8 per cent. Education contributed 12.3 per cent on the year-on-year rise in consumer prices during the first ten months of 2012, while the transport group witnessed a 6.8 per cent rise, reflecting an overall increase of 0.9 per cent in the average prices of the group. However, the main group that slowed down the rise in consumer prices over the first ten months  of 2012 compared with the same period of 2011 was housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, which contributed  -43.5 per cent of the overall change in the CPI, with the average prices of the group falling by 1.3 per cent between the periods compared. From : Khalij