GASTAT: Consumer Price Index (CPI) Decreases by 0.3% in December, 2018

On Tuesday, Jumada al-Awwal 16^th, 1440 H (corresponding to January 22th, 2019), The General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) released its monthly report of Saudi Arabia’s Consumer Price index (CPI) for December. The report was published on its official website www.stats.gov.sa.

(CPI) went down 0.3% in December compared to the previous month (November 2018).

(CPI) in Saudi Arabia decreased to (106.2) index points in December from (106.5) points in November of 2018 with 0.3% change, report showed.  

The report attributed the monthly decline of the index to the declines in six of the main sections of the consumer price index, which are: food and beverage by 0.5%, housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuel by 0.5%, transport by 0.2%, home furnishing and equipment by 0.1%, communications by 0.1% and finally miscellaneous goods and services by 0.1%.

Tobacco, clothes, footwear, health, culture and entertainment, education, restaurants and hotels remained stable with no change.

 On the other hand, annual change of the general CPI increased 22.2% compared to the same month last year reaching (106.2) points in December 2018 compared to (103.9) points in December 2017 with 2.2% change.

The ten sections composing the CPI contributed to the annual change, which are: transportation 12.0%, tobacco 10.2%, restaurant and hotels 7.3%, food and beverages 7.1%, home furnishing and equipment 5.0%, entertainment and culture 4.6%, health 4.0%, telecommunication 1.1%, personal goods and services 0.8% and education 0.2%.

On the other hand, two of the main sections witnessed a decline, which are: housing, water, electricity and gas section and with 5.1% as well as clothing and footwear with 3.2%.