Doha: Qatar’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) witnessed a marginal decrease of 0.26 percent in February compared to previous month (January 2022), reaching 100.89 points. When compared on annual basis, the consumer prices in Qatar (as per the general CPI index) in February have increased by 3.99 percent compared to the CPI of the same month in 2021, latest data released by the Planning and Statistics Authority (PSA) show.
A month-on-month (M-o-M) analysis of the CPI for February 2022 compared with CPI of January 2022, showed that there were three main groups, where respective indices during this month have decreased, namely: “Recreation and Culture” by 3.37 percent, “Transport” by 0.98 percent, and “Food and Beverages” by 0.34 percent.
However, an increase has been recorded in the following groups: “Housing, Water, Electricity and other Fuel” by 1.36 percent, “Miscellaneous Goods and Services” by 0.49 percent, “Clothing and Footwear” by 0.23 percent, “Restaurants and Hotels” by 0.19 percent, and a slight increase to almost stable on “Furniture and Household Equipment” by 0.01 percent. “Tobacco”, “Education,” “Health”, and “Communication” had remained flat at last month’s price level.
A comparison of the CPI of February 2022 with the CPI of February 2021 (annual change), showed an increase has been recorded in the general index (CPI), by 3.99 percent.
This Y-o-Y price increase was primarily due to the prices rise in nine groups namely: “Recreation and Culture” by 22.16 percent, followed by “Food and Beverages” by 6.92 percent, “Transport” by 4.94 percent, Miscellaneous Goods and Services” by 3.33 percent, “Clothing and Footwear” by 3.32 percent, “Housing, Water, Electricity and other Fuel” by 0.55 percent, “Education” by 0.48 percent, “Furniture and Household Equipment” by 0.41 percent, and “Communication” by 0.31 percent. While a decrease has been shown in price levels in “Health” by 3.09 percent and “Restaurants and Hotels” by 2.45 percent. No change was recorded on “Tobacco”.
The CPI of February 2022, excluding “Housing, Water, Electricity and other Fuel” group stood at 103.95 points showing a decrease of 0.62 percent, when compared the index of January 2022, and an increase of 4.82 percent when compared to the CPI of February 2021.
