Bahrain maintains lowest inflation rate among GCC countries in April 2024

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune - www.newsofbahrain.com   

In a report released by the Gulf Statistical Center, Bahrain was found to have the lowest inflation rate among Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries in April 2024, at just 1.2%.

This is in contrast to the overall GCC inflation rate, which rose by 1.3% compared to the same period last year.

Despite the increase, the GCC countries are still recording lower inflation rates than the European Union, which stood at 2.6% for the same period.

Oman was reported to have the lowest inflation rate in the GCC at 0.4%, followed by Bahrain at 1.2%.

The report highlighted that the sectors which experienced the highest inflation were housing at 4.9%, followed by culture and entertainment at 3.0%, restaurants and hotels at 1.7%, and food and beverages at 1.3%.

Education saw a 0.8% increase, while goods and services rose by 0.4%. On the other hand, the health sector declined by 0.9%, communications by 1.1%, and furniture and household equipment by 2.6%.

Among Bahrain’s major trading partners, the report found that India had the highest inflation rate at 3.9%, followed by Brazil at 3.7%, the United States at 3.4%, the United Kingdom at 3.0%, and China at 0.3%.