Abu Dhabi consumer prices rise 3.8% in July

Increases in prices of transport and clothing contributed the most to inflation in the emirate

Consumer prices, which peaked this year at 4.7% in January when the 5% VAT was implemented, are expected to taper. Sarah Dea / The National 
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Consumer prices in Abu Dhabi rose 3.8 per cent in July from a year earlier amid expectation that the inflation will top 3 per cent in the third quarter of this year, according to the Statistics Centre Abu Dhabi.

Consumer prices for the first seven months of 2018 increased 3.6 per cent from a year earlier. The centre didn’t provide comparative figures for July last year or the first seven months of 2017 in its report released on Thursday.

Consumer prices in June rose 3.3 per cent, compared with 1.8 per cent rise recorded in the same month a year earlier. Inflation in the first half of 2018 reached 3.6 per cent, according to the statistics body.

Prices for the transport sector in the emirate, which is home to about 6 per cent of the world's proven oil reserves, climbed 9.9 per cent in the first seven months of 2018, accounting for more than 38 per cent of the overall increase in Abu Dhabi's consumer price index.

It was followed by clothing and footwear sector, which rose 15.9 per cent and contributed 21.8 per cent to the overall price increase.

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Consumer prices, which peaked this year at 4.7 per cent in January, when the UAE along with Saudi Arabia implemented the 5 per cent VAT, are expected to taper as the levy gets gradually absorbed into the economy.

The central bank of the UAE is projecting consumer prices for the country as a whole to moderate to 3.5 per cent in 2018 and 2.5 per cent next year.