GASTAT: Saudi Inflation Hikes in November

Saudi Arabia’s annual inflation rate rose by 2.9% in November compared to the same month last year, driven by a rise in housing, water, and food prices, according to the latest figures released by the General Authority for Statistics. The inflation rate, however, eased from 3% in October and 3.1% in September.

Housing costs driving inflation in the Kingdom

The report from GASTAT suggested that housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuel prices increased by 4.7% due to the increase in actual rentals for housing which went up 5.3% in November. “Prices for housing were the main driver of the inflation rate in November 2022 due to their high relative importance in the Saudi consumer basket with a weight of 25.5%,” said GASTAT in the report. According to the report, food prices in November increased by 3.6%, while meat prices alone rose by 4.5%. The report further pointed out that restaurants and hotel prices increased by 6.9% year-on-year, due to the increase in catering services prices by 6.9%. Education prices in November witnessed a rise of 3.6%, mainly due to a rise in pre-primary and primary education fees. The report added that recreation and culture prices increased by 2%, mainly resulting from the increase in rents for rest houses and camps by 9.9%. Conversely, the GASTAT report showed that personal goods and services prices decreased by 0.4% year-on-year in November driven by the decrease in charges to bring domestic helper prices by 4.6%. In November, clothing and footwear prices also went down by 1.3% compared to the same month in the previous year, due to the decrease in garment prices.

November 2022 V October 2022

“Compared to October 2022, consumer prices increased slightly by 0.1%. The monthly CPI was affected by the increase in housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels prices by 1.4%, as a result of the increase in actual rentals for housing by 1.6%,” the report said. The prices of transport decreased by 0.1% in November compared to last month, while restaurants and hotel prices rose by 0.2%. Clothing and footwear prices went down 0.3% in November compared to October 2022, while household equipment and maintenance prices dipped 0.7% during the same period. The Saudi government, in its recently released budget statement, forecast inflation in the Kingdom to average 2.6% by the end of 2022 “under exceptional global circumstances.”