Monthly inflation rate of Consumer Price Index (CPI) for Goods and Services group has recorded a mild 0.34% drop in Dubai last January, compared to December 2015.
A report issued by DSC yesterday showed that this drop was due to a 2.66% drop in Transport group that recorded 9.08% relative importance of the total CPI, 1.93% drop in Food & Beverages Group with 11.08% relative importance, and 0.14% drop in Miscellaneous Goods & Service group with 6.15% relative importance of the total CPI.
Moreover, the Furniture & Household Items Group saw a minor 0.07% drop, making up 3.34% of the total CPI relative importance.
The Communications index prices recorded a 0.03% drop, making up 6% of the total CPI relative importance.
Housing and Fuel
The CPI for Goods & Services in the Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Fuel group recorded a 0.46% increase, making it the highest group of relative importance within CPI at 43.70%. The prices of other groups remained at previous levels within the comparison period.
As per the report, the relative importance of other CPI groups was 0.24% for the Tobacco group, 5.52% for the Clothing and Footwear group, 1.08% for Health group, 4.24% for Recreation & Culture group, 4.09% for Education group, and 5.48% for Hotels & Restaurants group.
Education Fees
The Annual Inflation Index for CPI Goods & Services increased by 1.91% in January 2016 compared to the same period in 2015. The increase in education fees led to a 4.83% increase in the Education Index.
Furthermore, the Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Fuel group recorded a 4.41% increase, whereas the Food & Beverage group increased by 3.14%, Hotels & Restaurants by 1.63%, Furniture & Household Items by 1.16%, Miscellaneous Goods & Services by 0.96%, and Health by 0.23%. On the other hand, the index recorded a drop in the Clothing & Footwear group by 4.82%, Transport by 4.13%, Tobacco by 0.094%, Communications by 0.08%, and Recreation & Culture by 0.01%.
Food & Beverage
The change in goods & services prices compared to the previous month within the Food & Beverage group led to a drop in the inflation index by 1.93%, impacted by a 6.30 drop in fish and seafood prices due to the increased supply and better weather conditions.
Prices of fruits dropped by 5.41%, and vegetables by 2.71%, while the annual inflation rate increased in this group by 3.14% impacted by the increase in prices of fish and seafood by 16.32%, vegetables by 10.34%, and foods not listed under another item by 2.88%.
The report indicated a stability in the monthly inflation index for the Tobacco group, while the group's annual index dropped by 0.94% due the fall in the prices of the group's goods by 4.18%.
Clothing and Footwear
The Clothing and Footwear price index reported stability during January compared to last December.
Annually, however, the index recorded a 4.82% drop.
The stability of the index was due to drop in prices of ready-made clothes by 6.53%, and shoes & footwear by 1.87%.