Inflation in Saudi Arabia rises to 0.4% in July

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Saudi Arabia’s inflation accelerated to 0.4% in July, according to recent data by the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT).

The authority noted that the impact of the value-added tax (VAT) increase from 5% to 15%, which was introduced in July 2020, faded in July, and does not affect the annual change in the consumer price index (CPI) anymore.

The cost-of-living index for July rose to 104.41 points, according to the base year 2018, compared to 103.96 points the year before.

The increase in consumer price index (CPI) was mainly driven by a rise of 7.8% year-on-year (YoY) in the average prices of transport, affected by higher prices of personal transport equipment by 28.7%, and a 1.2% increase in the food and beverages sector as food prices grew by 1.3%.

Communication and tobacco sectors rose by 2.7% and 1.2%, respectively, as the former was impacted by 4.2% growth in phone and fax service prices and the latter was affected by a 1.9% increase in cigarette prices.

Meanwhile, education sector declined by 7.8% as the pre-primary and primary education dropped by 13.4%, while intermediate and secondary education fell by 7.2%.

Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels sector was also down 3.6%, due to a 4.5% fall in housing rents.

The table below illustrates the change in the CPI comparison YoY in July:

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.

For more data, visit Argaam Tools