The rate of inflation in Abu Dhabi last month edged down to 2.4 per cent year-on-year, despite continued increases in housing costs, according to the Statistics Centre Abu Dhabi (Scad).
That is a decrease of 0.4 percentage points compared with the March inflation rate of 2.8 per cent. Inflation stood at 3.4 per cent in February, Scad data show.
Lower fuel costs drove the fall in prices last month. Transport costs were down by 2.3 per cent last month against the previous month, following a fall in fuel prices. Transport costs have fallen for the past three consecutive months.
The Government changed how it calculates petrol prices in August last year, which reduced its spending on energy subsidies. Despite cuts to the government subsidies, the fall of oil prices to 12-year lows at the beginning of the year has led prices at the pump to fall.
Housing, water, electricity and gas prices rose by 7.5 per cent year-on-year last month, the grouping registering the biggest increase in costs. Housing accounts for 31 per cent of Scad’s inflation basket. That is down slightly compared with the 8.2 per cent annualised increase in housing costs in February. Costs at restaurants and hotels increased at a rate of 5 per cent in the year to last month, a decrease of 0.4 percentage points against February’s figure.
The rate of inflation fell considerably in January after the effect of cuts to subsidies on electricity and water was no longer shown in the index. Prices for expats consuming utilities increased on January 1 last year.
abouyamourn@thenational.ae
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