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Abu Dhabi’s CPI falls 0.4pc in April

abu DHABI — Consumer prices in the emirate fell 0.4 per cent in April this year from a month earlier, Statistics Center Abu Dhabi said.

However, the year-on-year increase in inflation during the four months of the year in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi was 2.16 per cent, according to the April issue of monthly consumer price index (CPI) report issued by Statistics Centre - Abu Dhabi, or SCAD.

CPI stood at 117.70 points during the period from January-April 2010, up from 115.22 points for the same period a year ago. The centre uses year 2007 as the base year for its comparisons and calculations.

In the month of April, the SCAD saw the Consumer Price Index growing 2.60 per cent to 117.89 points up against 114.90 points a year ago.

Interestingly, the Consumer Price Index showed a 0.41 per cent month-to-month drop in April 2010 falling from 118.37 points in March 2010 to 117.89 points in April.

The rise in average consumer prices for the first four months of 2010 reflects the net change in the consumer basket prices, monitored in the period, the SCAD said in a statement. “An increase in the CPI does not necessarily imply higher prices for all the goods and services that make up the consumer basket and by the same percentage,” it said. However, the net change or the combined outcome of these changes in the prices of the consumer basket in the first four months of 2010 compared to the same period in 2009 resulted in an overall hike in prices by 2.16 per cent. To represent all regions of the Emirate, the selected sample of items included in the Consumer Price Index basket uses actual data from the 2007 household income and expenditure survey.

The sample of outlets were selected in such a way as to represent points of purchase for a large base of consumers all over the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, taking into account the geographical distribution of sources within the emirate. — haseeb@khaleejtimes.com