Cost of living in Abu Dhabi comes down this year

By Eudore R. Chand

ABU DHABI 17 September 2019: Data released by the Statistics Centre – Abu Dhabi, noted a 0.8 per cent decrease in the Consumer Price Index for the period from January through August 2019, reaching 111.1 per cent compared to 111.9 per cent in the comparable period of 2018.

The monthly publication released by Scad provides an analysis of the Emirate’s CPI with the base year being 2014. Scad noted that Abu Dhabi’s CPI also decreased by 1.2 per cent in August 2019 compared to the same month last year, reaching 110.8 per cent against 112.1 per cent in August 2018.

CPI rose 0.4 per cent in August 2019 as compared to the preceding month, which recorded 110.4 per cent, said Wam.

Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels contributed to the overall decline during the monitored period by 151.8 percent compared to the same period last year, with prices falling by 3.6 percent, it added.

As for the transport group, prices decreased by six percent, contributing to an overall decrease in CPI of 119.5 percent, the SCAD report noted.

Food and beverages contributed to the overall decline by 33.2 percent, with prices falling by 2.1 percent on year. The “recreation and culture” group saw an increase of 19.8 percent in prices compared contributing to the overall decrease in CPI by 119.7 percent.