Qatari consumer price index attains slight increase in February

 The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for February 2014 attained 116.5 points, an increase of 0.5% compared to the CPI of January 2014, and of 2.7% compared to the CPI of February 2013, said a release by Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics (MDPS)The overall CPI of February 2014 increased slightly by 0.5% compared to the one of January 2014, whereas most of the groups indexes witnessed some changes. The group of “Food, Beverages & tobacco” rose by 0.7%, and the group of “Garments & Footwear” by 0.9% due to the price increase of readymade clothes, “Rentals, Fuel & Energy*” by 0.9%, “Furniture, Textiles & Home Appliances” by 0.2%, “Entertainment, Recreation & Culture” by 0.4%, “Miscellaneous Goods & Services” by 0.7%. On the contrary, “Transport and Communication” recorded a decline of 0.1%. The figures (4) and (5) show the index of “Food, Beverages and Tobacco” and “Rentals, Fuel and Energy” groups during these months.The overall CPI of February 2014, compared to the one of February 2013, increased by 2.7%. This increase is observed in most groups: “Rentals, Fuel & Energy” by 5.8% because of rental prices growth, “Furniture, Textiles & Home Appliances” by 3.9%, “Entertainment, Recreation & Culture” by 3.2%, “Garments and Footwear” by 2.4%, and “Food, Beverages & tobacco” by 1.8%. However, prices of “Miscellaneous goods & services” declined 3.2% due to the decrease of gold prices. Figure (1) shows the monthly and annual comparison for CPI of February 2014.The CPI of February 2014, excluding “Rentals, Fuel and Energy” group, reached 127.2 points, a slight increase of 0.4% compared to January 2014. Similarly, the CPI of February 2014 grew by 1.7% compared to the CPI of the same month of 2013. Figure (3) shows the index change rate.