RIYADH: The general index of wholesale prices in the Kingdom recorded a monthly decline by 0.6 percent in August from the previous month, and also registering a decline by 1.6 percent annually compared to its level in August 2014, SPA reports.

The monthly report issued by the Department of Statistics and Information received by the agency explained that the general index of wholesale prices in the Kingdom fell to 156.9 points in August 2015, against 157.9 last July and compared to 159.5 in August 2014, to record on a monthly basis a decline of 0.6 percent, and on an annual basis a decline by 1.6 percent.

The report attributed the decline in the index of wholesale prices for August 2015, which measures the average changes in the prices of goods and services sold in the primary market of the Kingdom, to a decline in six main constituent parts of the index, which are as follows: Chemicals and related products fell by 2.9 percent, followed by terms of the percentage decline of department and other goods by 1.9 percent. Then the manufactured goods classified by material decline of 1.2 percent, and the miscellaneous manufactured goods, which fell by 1 percent, and beverages and tobacco by 0.3 percent. Finally, machinery and transport equipment fell by 0.1 percent.

In contrast, three of the main sections of the index recorded a rise during August.

They include animal and vegetable oils and fats by 0.9 percent as a result of the rise in palm oil and corn oil prices, followed by raw materials except fuels that rose by 0.4 percent, and finally food and live animals, which rose by 0.2 percent.