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Dubai Consumer Prices Up 2.67pc in November

However, on a month-to-month basis, retail prices in November, declined by 0.12 per cent from October, pulled down by lower housing prices, food and beverage costs, water, electricity, gas and fuel, data by the Dubai Statistics Center showed.

In October, Dubai’s consumer prices rose by 2.8 per cent from a year ago.

In other expenditure groups, prices rose in November compared to October, with the prices of furniture, fixtures and houseware, rising by 2.17 per cent, miscellaneous commodities and services group, inching up by 0.49 per cent, transportation group up by 0.05 per cent, and entertainment and culture group up by 0.03 per cent. Prices in other expenditure groups were stable in November.

The countrywide slump in housing rents continued to weigh on the price index in November, as the housing, water, electricity, gas and fuel group slipped by 0.18 per cent, while prices of housing materials, services and maintenance went down by 5.2 per cent.

During the month, prices of food and non alcohol drinks group went down by 1.29 per cent, largely due to lower prices of fish and seafood which declined by nine per cent, while vegetable prices were down by 2.8 per cent.

Consumer prices in Dubai started to slip for the first time in June, which is consistent with the cooling of inflation among Gulf Cooperation Council member states as average prices for oil and other commodities fell, especially in the first half of 2009.

Earlier this year, EFG Hermes said that continuing reductions in rents, both in Dubai and Abu Dhabi would help push the UAE’s inflation lower and into negative territory for the year. The investment bank forecast that the UAE would experience deflation of 5.3 per cent for 2009.

On an annual basis, the cost of education in November, has gone up by 12.2 per cent compared to the same period in 2008, clothing and footwear by 9.27 per cent, and by 6.79 per cent for restaurants and hotel services.

The other groups where prices rose were in tobacco products, rising by 3.8 per cent, health services up by 3.35 per cent, miscellaneous commodities and services group by 2.97 per cent, transportation group by 2.77 per cent, entertainment and culture by 2.57 per cent, and by 1.93 per cent for housing, water, electricity, gas and fuel. The prices of telecommunication group remained stable during such period.

Interestingly, the 1.93 per cent rise in housing, water, electricity and fuel group, was due mainly to liquid fuel prices going up by 5.59 per cent, followed by rentals paid by lessees at 2.35 per cent, then by electricity prices at 1.63 per cent.

While hotel accommodation rates slipped by 2.8 per cent, restaurants and hotels services in November increased by 6.79 per cent from the year before, while coffee shop services went up by 6.83 per cent.

· rocel@khaleejtimes.com