(MENAFN - The Peninsula) Food is becoming expensive keeping the common man weighed down, while house rents continue to drop easing the overall inflationary pressures that peaked at record highs in 2007 and 2008.
Figures released by Qatar Statistics Authority (QSA) show that food, medical services, furniture and home appliances as well as entertainment continue to cost more whereas rents have been easing, dropping as much as 15.3 percent since the middle of last year.
The consumer price index (CPI) for July fell marginally (0.5 percent) over the previous month (June) but the drop was a higher 2.9 percent when compared to June 2009.
The overall decline in the rent component of CPI in a month from June to July this year was also a bit higher at 1.6 percent.
But food prices continue to look up, inching up 0.2 percent in July over the previous month and climbing as much as two percent in a year (when contrasted with June 2009).
It is interesting to note that in a year since June last year, everything except rent and fuel became expensive and that includes, apart from foodstuff, furniture and home appliances, recreation, medical services as well as transport and communications.
Miscellaneous goods and services also became costlier by a high of 4.8 percent, show QSA figures.
Home appliances and health services became 4.1 percent costlier over the past year, while garments and footwear prices rose by a slight 0.5 percent.
Nevertheless, the CPI was down 2.9 percent in a year mainly due to rents dropping more than 15 percent since the share of rent, fuel and energy combined in the CPI basket is a huge 32 percent.
Transport and communications rank next with a 20.5 percent share in the basket, while food beverages and tobacco account for the third largest share at 13.2 percent.
QSA said in a release yesterday it had shifted the base year from 2006 to 2007 on the recommendations of the GCC to standardise the base year for CPI calculation.
