Qatar inflation inches up for 2nd consecutive month

Qatar's consumer prices rose 0.55 percent month-on-month in May for a second consecutive month, led by rises in rent, fuel and services, including medical and entertainment, the Qatar Statistics Authority said on Thursday.

The May increase followed an increase of 0.2 percent in April, after three successive monthly declines in January February and March of five percent, 1.1 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively, the authority said on its website.

Inflationary pressure in the world's biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas has eased this year after hitting peaks of almost 17 percent in the middle of 2008 as oil prices fell from last year's record highs and the dollar strengthened.

The inflation rate in some other Gulf Arab states including Saudi Arabia, the biggest Arab economy and the world's largest oil exporter, has picked up as oil prices rise to over $60 a barrel after dropping to mid-$30 in December.

Qatar, which links its currency to the dollar, suffered from the highest inflation rate among the other energy-exporting Gulf Arab states, as house prices soared and its gas-fuelled economy expanded 16 percent in real terms.

The Gulf state's economy is likely to sustain growth of seven to nine percent this year, the finance and economy minister has said.

The consumer price index rose to 126.13 points in May compared with 125.44 in April, the authority said. The rent, fuel and power index, which has the highest weighting of 32.2 percent, rose 0.75 percent to 141.91 in May, compared with 140.85 in April, the authority said.

Qatar started in April publishing monthly figures for 2009 and using 2006 as its based year to better reflect household spending in the Gulf Arab emirate.

Qatar and its five Gulf neighbours are working to align the methods they use to calculate consumer price inflation in preparation for monetary union, the Gulf Cooperation Council said last year.

Most of the states would begin using 2007 as the base year of the CPIs by this year, after conducting household spending surveys to change the weights of their consumer price baskets. (Reuters)

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