Doha: Qatar’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) witnessed a marginal increase of 0.58 percent in March compared to the previous month (February 2022), reaching at 101.48 points. When compared on annual basis, the consumer prices in Qatar (as per the general CPI index) in March have also increased by 4.42 percent compared to the CPI of the same month in 2021, data released by the Planning and Statistics Authority (PSA) show.
A month-on-month analysis of the CPI for March 2022 compared with CPI of February 2022, showed that there were six main groups, where respective indices in this month have increased, namely: “Recreation and Culture” by 7.85 percent, “Housing, Water, Electricity and other Fuel” by 1.35 percent, “Miscellaneous Goods and Services” by 0.85 percent, “Transport” by 0.41 percent, “Restaurants and Hotels” by 0.20 percent, and a slight increase to almost stable on “Furniture and Household Equipment” by 0.04 percent.
A decrease has been recorded on “Food and Beverages” by 3.37 percent and “Clothing and Footwear” by 2.50 percent. “Tobacco”, “Health”, “Communication”, and “Education” had remained flat at last month’s price level.
A comparison of the CPI for March 2022 with the CPI of March 2021, showed an increase has been recorded in the general index (CPI) by 4.42 percent. This year-on-year price increase was primarily due to the prices rising in eight groups namely: “Recreation and Culture” by 37.61 percent, followed by “Miscellaneous Goods and Services” by 5.17 percent, “Food and Beverages” by 3.44 percent, “Housing, Water, Electricity and other Fuel” by 2.25 percent, “Transport” by 1.57 percent, “Education” by 0.47 percent, “Furniture and Household Equipment” by 0.43 percent, and “Communication” by 0.31 percent. While, a decrease has been shown in price levels in “Health” by 3.09 percent, “Restaurants and Hotels” by 2.64 percent, and “Clothing and Footwear” by 0.44 percent.
