Gulf States Witness Inflation in 2023, Housing Costs Rise Most
TDT | Manama
The Daily Tribune - www.newsofbahrain.com
New data from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) reveals that housing costs experienced the highest inflation rate among member states in 2023.
According to the GCC Statistical Center, housing inflation in the region reached 5.5% in 2023, followed by restaurants and hotels at 3.9%. Culture and recreation came in third with 3% inflation, followed by food and beverages at 2.3%. Education and healthcare inflation stood at 1.8% and 0.8%, respectively, while goods and services inflation was 0.2%.
Prices for furniture, tobacco, communications, clothing, footwear, and transportation witnessed varying degrees of decline across GCC countries. Notably, Bahrain also experienced a decrease in these prices during 2023.
The data shows that furniture and tobacco prices fell by 0.3%, while communications, clothing, footwear, and transportation saw a 0.5% decline.
Overall inflation in the GCC region reached 2.2% in 2023, down from 3.1% in 2022. This follows inflation rates of 2.4% in 2021 and 1.7% in 2020.
The only year with negative inflation in the GCC was 2019 when it stood at -1.5%.
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