Abu Dhabi inflation averaged 3.9% YoY in Q1 2018: SCAD

ABU DHABI, 29th April, 2018 (WAM) -- The Statistics Centre - Abu Dhabi, SCAD, issued today its monthly report on the consumer price index, CPI, and the inflation rate in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi for March 2018, with 2014 fixed as the base year. The report also details CPI results by welfare level, household type and geographical region. It also presents the expected Inflation over the second quarter of 2018. According to SCAD’s report, the inflation rate in consumer prices for the first quarter of 2018 was 3.9 percent compared with the same period of 2017, as shown by the increase in the CPI to 112.2 percent during the first quarter of 2018, up from 107.9 percent during the same period of 2017. A comparison of monthly price data reveals an increase of 2.7 percent in consumer prices in March 2018 compared with March 2017. However, the CPI dropped one percent in March 2018 compared with the previous month. SCAD’s report also presents the contribution of the main expenditure groups to the overall inflation. These 12 groups are categorised according to the International Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose. As the results indicate, consumer inflation during the first quarter of 2018 was driven mainly by the transport group, which increased by 10 percent, contributing 35.7 percent of the overall increase in the CPI. A key contributor to the rise in consumer prices during the period under review was the ‘food and beverages’ group, which accounted for 15.7 percent of the overall increase in the CPI during the first three months of 2018 compared with the same period of 2017, reflecting a 5.3 percent surge in the group’s prices. In addition the ‘miscellaneous goods and services’ group contributed 15.8 percent of the overall increase in the CPI for the first quarter of 2018 compared with the same period of the previous year, as the prices of the group increased by 8.8 percent over the same period. Meanwhile, the 'housing, water, electricity, gas and fuel' group detracted 26.6 percent from the overall increase in the CPI during the first quarter of 2018, reflecting a three percent fall in house rents during the period under review. The report went on to say that since the impact of inflation varies with the household’s welfare level, a breakdown of the rise in consumer prices during first quarter of 2018 compared with same period of 2017 indicates an increase of 3.9 percent for households of the bottom welfare level. The corresponding rises for households of the middle and the top welfare levels were 3.6 and 4.1 percent, respectively. Analysing the overall rise in consumer prices during Q1 2017 by household type, SCAD’s report shows a 4.2 percent rise in consumer prices for citizen households during the first quarter of 2018, compared with same period of 2017. The corresponding rise for non-citizen and share household types was 3.6 percent and 4.4 percent, respectively. The Abu Dhabi region contributed 52.2 percent of the total 3.9 percent increase in consumer prices observed during the first quarter of 2018 compared with the same period of 2017, while Al Ain and Al Dhafra regions accounted for 40.1 percent and 7.7 percent, respectively, of the total rise in consumer prices observed during Q1 2018 compared with the same period of the previous year. According to SCAD, the CPI is expected to increase by 2.7 percent for the second quarter of 2018, compared with Q2 2017.