According to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) report for April 2020 released recently by the Statistics Centre – Abu Dhabi (SCAD), the CPI increased by 0.9% to 108.6 points in April 2020,up from 107.6 points in March 2020.

According to the report,CPIdropped by 1.4%inApril 2020 to 108.6 points, compared with 110.2points in April 2019. Furthermore, average consumer prices declined in between January to April of 2020 by 2%, with CPI at 108.8 points, compared with 111pointsduring the same period in 2019.

A breakdown of the report data by household welfare level reveals falls inin consumer prices by 1.5% for households at the bottom welfare level, 1.9% for the middle welfare level and 2.1% for the top welfare level from January to April of 2020, compared with the same period in 2019. Analysed by household type, the decline in consumer prices in the first four months of 2020 stood at 1.9% for citizen households, 2.1% for non-citizens and 1.8% for shared households.

Categorisedaccording to the International Classification of Individual Consumption According to Purpose (COICOP), SCAD’s CPI report also analyses the contribution of the main 12 expenditure groups to the overall change in consumer prices. The housing, water, electricity, gas and fuel group contributed 72.4% to the overall decrease in CPI in the first four months of 2020, compared with same period in 2019. The prices of this group dropped by 4.6%.

The furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance group contributed 18% to the decrease recorded over the period from January to April 2020 compared with the same period in 2019. Overall, the group’s prices dropped by 4.9%. Furthermore, the miscellaneous goods and services groupcontributed 15% to the overall fallobserved in the first four months of 2020 compared with the same period in 2019. The prices of this group declined by 4%.

On the other hand, the prices of the food and beverages group increased by 1.9% over the period fromJanuary to April 2020 compared with the same period in 2019,detracting 11.3% from the overall decrease in the CPI during the aforesaid period.

SCAD’s CPI report presents comparisons of monthly price data, along with analyses by household welfare, household type and geographical location. It also provides the percentage contribution of major expenditure groups to annual price changes.

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