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29 March 2024

Consumer prices up 2.4% till August

Published
By WAM

The average rise in consumer prices in the UAE for the first eight months of 2011 was 2.4 per cent, compared with the same period of 2010.

According to the Abu Dhabi Statistics Centre, from August 2010 to August 2011 average consumer prices rose by 1.6 per cent. From July 2011 to August 2011, average consumer prices rose by 0.1 per cent.

An overall rise in consumer prices during the first eight months of 2011 compared with the same period in 2010, has led to an increase of 4.4 per cent in consumer prices for households of the bottom welfare quintile over the same period of comparison.

As for the other welfare levels, consumer prices grew by 1.6 per cent for households of the top quintile and by 3.0 per cent for the middle welfare quintile.

The year-on-year rise of 2.4 per cent in consumer prices for the first eight months of 2011 contributed to a rise in consumer prices for national households by 2.4 per cent, and by 2.0 per cent for non-national households and 4.0 per cent for collective households.

The ‘Food and non-alcoholic beverages group’, accounted for 57.6 per cent of the rise in the index, due to increases in the prices of most of the subgroups included in this group.

The highest increase was in prices of the ‘meat’ subgroup which rose by 14.1 per cent followed by ‘coffee, tea and cocoa’ (13.4 per cent), ‘Fruits’ (12.0 per cent), ‘Mineral waters, soft drinks, fruit and vegetable juices’ (9.0 per cent), and ‘vegetables’ (7.6 per cent).

The next highest contributor to the overall year-on-year increase in the CPI over the first eight months of 2011 was the ‘Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels’ group which accounted for 35.7 per cent of the increase in the CPI while prices for this group increased by 2.2 per cent.

The ‘Transport’ group contributed 30.4 per cent to the year-on-year rise in consumer prices for the periods compared and increased by 7.8 per cent.

The ‘Communications’ group contributed 14.9 per cent of the CPI increase during the first eight months of 2011 and increased by 5.7 per cent compared with the same period in 2010.

The main group that slowed down the rise in consumer prices during the first eight months of 2011 compared with the same period of 2010 was ‘Clothing and footwear’.

Prices of this group decreased by 15.4 per cent as a result of a drop in the prices of the clothing and footwear subgroups by 15.5 per cent and 15.4 per cent, respectively.

Average consumer prices increased by 1.6 per cent in August 2011 compared with August 2010.

Consumer Price Index (CPI) Calculation Methodology, is a tool that measures the rate of change in the prices of a range of goods and services purchased by households between two time periods.

The period against which prices are compared is known as the base period and the period under review is known as the comparison period.

The sources used for collection of price data were determined through field visits conducted by a team from the Price Indices Section.

These sources are updated on a regular basis as the team reports to the section when any source closes down or relocates premises. Price data is currently collected from 117 sources.

The CPI basket is collected every month, except for the group of vegetables, fruit, meat, fish, and chicken for which price data is collected every week due to constant price fluctuations in these items.

Data on home rentals is collected on a quarterly basis, and school tuition fees semi-annually. The index is calculated using 2007 as the base year for the Abu Dhabi region, with a basket consisting of 334 goods and services and a consumer basket consisting of 670 goods and services.

The weights (relative importance) of goods and services is calculated using the results of the 2007/2008 household income and expenditure survey. Goods or services with a weight of 0.002 per cent or more were included in the CPI basket of goods and services. Goods with weights below this value were distributed proportionally among the other goods in the same group.

The average price of goods is calculated using the geometric mean of elementary aggregates.

Price ratios are calculated by dividing the comparison price by the base price, and new weights for goods are obtained by multiplying the price ratio by their base weight.