Higher fuel and utilities bills pushed consumer prices up by an annualised 2.1 per cent last month in Abu Dhabi.
The consumer price index (CPI) for February rose by 0.1 per cent from the previous month, with about three-quarters of the rise attributed to the largest component of housing, water, electricity, gas and fuels, the government’s Statistics Centre Abu Dhabi said in its monthly update.
While housing costs have been falling – the property broker Chestertons estimates villa and apartment rents were down by 10 per cent and 6 per cent last year, respectively, and are still falling in Abu Dhabi this quarter – fuel-related costs have been rising as oil prices have advanced by more than 20 per cent since late November.
The other main driver of higher prices last month was the rising cost of transport, which is the second-largest component in the CPI.
Notably, the statistics centre’s report said healthcare costs accounted for the biggest annualised price rise last month – more than 10 per cent – although the category has a small weighting in the overall index.
The statistics unit also indicated that there was a big price drop – nearly 10 per cent – in the “recreation and culture” category, with prices in the separate “restaurants and hotels” category dropping by 1.5 per cent, presumably as discretionary spending continues to be squeezed by the retrenchment that followed the oil price slump in the past two years, with the attendant drop in expatriate employment.
amcauley@thenational.ae
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