Saudi inflation rises to 3% in January on VAT, fuel price hikes

Saudi Arabia’s inflation rate rose to 3 percent in January, following energy price hikes and implementation of the value-added tax (VAT), the latest figures from the General Authority for Statistics (GAS) showed.

The cost of living index increased to 108.0 points in January, compared to 104.9 points in the same month last year.

The GAS last month changed the base year for the consumer price index to 2-13 from 2007 and adjusted the basket of goods and services.

Saudi Inflation Rate
Month	Inflation rate*
January 2017	(0.6%)
February	(0.6%)
March	(0.7%)
April	(0.7%)
May	(0.8%)
June	(0.5%)
July	(0.8%)
August	(0.8%)
September	(0.8%)
October	(1.2%)
November	(1.7%)
December	(1.1%)
January 2018	+3%

*Updated for base year 2013

Prices of most of the main groups in the CPI basket increased, with tobacco surging 54.5 percent.

Meanwhile, Apparel & Footwear declined steeply by 7.9 percent.

CPI YoY comparison (January 2017/2018)
Main Groups	YoY Variation (%)
Tobacco*	+54.5%
Transportation	+10.5%
Food & Beverages	+6.7%
Hotels & Restaurants	+5.8%
Healthcare	+3.7%
Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Fuel	+1.3%
Telecommunications	+1.0%
Home Furniture & Maintenance	+0.4%
Miscellaneous Goods & Services	+0.3%
Education	+0.2%
Entertainment & Culture	(0.7%)
Apparel & Footwear	(7.9%)

* The increase is due to applying selective tax on tobacco

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