Inflation in Saudi Arabia rises to 5.3% in December 2020

The authority attributed the growth in inflation to an increase in value-added tax (VAT) from 5% to 15% from July 1, 2020.

The cost-of-living index for December rose to 103.77 points according to the base year 2018, compared to 98.5 points the year before.

GASTAT has adopted 2018 as the new base year as of February 2020.

The consumer price index (CPI) rise was mainly driven by a surge of 12.7% year-on-year (YoY) in the average prices of food and beverages, affected by 12.9% rise in food prices, in addition to a hike of 6.9% YoY in the average prices of transport, as vehicle prices grew by 9.6%.

Tobacco sector rose 13.7%. Similarly, Telecommunication sector moved up 11.4%.

Meanwhile, education sector declined by 8.6% as the pre-primary and primary education dropped by 12.3%, while intermediate and secondary education fell by 11.1%.

Housing, water, electricity, gas, and fuel sector was also 0.8% down, due a 1.5% decline in housing rents.

The table below illustrates the change in the CPI comparison YoY in December 2020:

The CPI reflects price changes of a fixed basket of goods and services that includes 490 items. The items were chosen based on the results of the Household Expenditure and Income Survey conducted in 2018.

Prices are collected through point of sale (POS) field visits.