ABU DHABI: Inflation in the UAE accelerated to 11.1 percent last year, up from 9.3 percent in 2006, a top Ministry of Economy official said on Tuesday.
The ministry said inflation was driven by rental and housing costs, which jumped 17.5 percent. Rents and housing has a 36 percent weighting in the UAE’s consumer price index (CPI).
“The rise was due to a jump in commodity and services costs,” said UAE Economy Minister Sultan ibn Saeed Al-Mansouri, but did not give an immediate breakdown. Research conducted by the Ministry of Economy’s CPI division revealed that the 2007 rate resulted from varying increases in the consumer prices of all expenditure groups.
The “house rent and related house items” group currently has the highest weight in the CPI at 36 percent. Based on the actual contribution of the expenditure groups to the 2007 inflation rate, the category emerged as the main cause of inflation, comprising 6.5 percent of the total 11.1 percent inflation figure or around 58.6 percent.
