Inflation in UAE hits nine-year low

The UAE inflation hit a nine-year low of 1.5 per cent in 2009, in line with forecasts, as prices returned to a downward path in December due to a fall in the household category, preliminary data showed yesterday.

The global financial crisis ended an oil- and real estate-fuelled boom in the Gulf, depressing consumer prices from record peaks set in 2008, with some countries such as the UAE experiencing temporary deflation in 2009. The UAE's consumer prices fell 0.4 per cent on an annual basis in December, after an increase of 0.17 per cent in November, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed.

On the month, prices in the world's third-largest oil exporter decreased 0.7 per cent in the last month of 2009.

 

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