According to the Central Administration of Statistics (CAS), consumer prices rose by an annual 3.17% in the first month of 2019, compared to an average inflation rate of 5.55% in January 2018. The rise is attributed to increases in prices across all components of the Consumer price index (CPI), except “Transportation” given the average price of oil retreated from $69.08/barrel in January 2018 from $60.24/barrel in the same period this year.
Accordingly, the price of the CPI component “Transportation” (13.1% of the CPI) declined by an annual 2.70%. Meanwhile, the prices of “Food and non-alcoholic beverages” (20% of CPI) recorded an annual growth of 7.67% in January 2019. In their turn, the costs of “Housing and utilities” (which include: water, electricity, gas and other fuels) grasped a combined 28.4% of the CPI and climbed by 2.83% year-on-year (y-o-y) in the beginning of 2019. In fact, the breakdown of the component reveals that “Owner-occupied” rental costs composing 13.6% of “Housing and utilities” increased by 2.69% y-o-y, while the average prices of “Water, electricity, gas, and other fuels”, making up 11.8% of the same category, rose by an annual 2.78% over the same period.
In addition, the sub-indices of “Health” (7.7% of the CPI) and “Education” (6.6% of the CPI) recorded the respective upticks of 2.51% and 5.4% y-o-y in January 2019. The prices of “Clothing and footwear” (5.2% of CPI) also added 7.45% y-o-y.
Average Inflation Rates in January
Source: CAS