Cost of living up in Abu Dhabi

ABU DHABI // The annual inflation rate for the emirate increased during the first quarter of the year by 1.4 percentage points.

According to the economic performance report of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, issued by the Division of Studies in the Department of Economic Development in Abu Dhabi, the annual inflation rates reached 5.0 percentage points in January and 4.6 percentage points in February compared with the average inflation rate of 3.2 and 1.3 percentage points in 2014 and 2013, respectively, reported Wam, the state news agency.

The inflation rate during the first quarter this year was influenced by increases in the price of water and electricity. Rents and the increase of water and electricity prices are considered the most important factors causing inflation in the emirate and are part of a basket of goods forming the consumer price index.

According to reports issued by the Statistics Centre, rents in Abu Dhabi increased by 9.7 per cent this January compared with last year.

Increases in the cost of electricity since January are reflected in the rise of inflation rates in the subsequent months, where figures issued from the National Bureau of Statistics indicated that “housing, water, electricity and gas” has increased during the first quarter by 2.48 per cent compared with the last quarter of last year.