Qatar’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) witnessed a marginal increase of 0.16 percent in March compared to previous month (February 2021), reaching at 97.18 points.
When compared on annual basis, the consumer prices in Qatar (as per the general CPI index) in March have decreased by 0.30 percent compared to the CPI of the same month in 2020, latest data released by the Planning and Statistics Authority (PSA) show.
A month-on-month analysis of the CPI for March 2021 compared with CPI of February2021, showed that there were five main groups, where respective indices during this month have increased, namely: “Transport” by 3.75 percent, followed by “Clothing and Footwear” by 1.18 percent, “Restaurants and Hotels” by 0.39 percent, “Furniture and Household Equipment”, and “Education” by 0.02 percent, and 0.01 percent respectively and both of them showed almost stable.
However, a decrease has been recorded in following groups: “Recreation and Culture” by 4.26 percent, “Miscellaneous Goods and Services” by 0.91 percent, “Housing, Water, Electricity and other Fuel” by 0.34 percent, and “Food and Beverages” by 0.13 percent. “Tobacco”, “Health”, and “Communication” had remained flat at the last month’s price level.
A comparison of the CPI, March 2021 with the CPI, March 2020 (annual change), showed a decrease has been recorded in the general index (CPI), by 0.30 percent.
This y-o-y price decrease primary due to the prices decline in five groups namely: “Recreation and Culture” by 9.22 percent, “Housing, Water, Electricity and other Fuel” by 5.85 percent, “Clothing and Footwear” by 5.12 percent, “Health” by 0.20 percent, and “Food and Beverages” by 0.09 percent.
While an increase has been shown in price levels of six groups namely: “Transport” by 6.87 percent, “Restaurants and Hotels” by 4.01 percent, “Communication” by 3.91 percent, “Education” by 3.73 percent, “Furniture and Household Equipment” by 2.63 percent, and “Recreation and Culture” by 1.48 percent. No changes were recorded on “Tobacco”.
The CPI of March 2021, excluding “Housing”, “Water”, “Electricity”, and other “Fuel” group stood at 99.46 points showing an increase of 0.29 percent when compared to the index of February 2021, and an increase of 1.13 percent when compared to the CPI of March 2020.
