(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) Oman's inflation rate recorded an increase of 0.73 per cent in March 2014, when compared with the same period of 2013. On a monthly basis, however, it declined 0.06 per cent.
According to the report issued by the National Center for Statistics and Information (NCSI), prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages rose by 2.42 per cent, while housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels grew by 1.38 per cent. Education costs recorded the highest increase of 6.24 per cent. Hotel and restaurant costs increased by 1.25 per cent, while furnishing, household equipment and routine household maintenance grew by 1.44 per cent. In addition, clothing and footwear grew by 0.34 per cent, health costs by 3.51 per cent and recreation and culture costs by 0.48 per cent.
On an annual basis, price reductions were recorded for communication costs, which decreased by 4.62 per cent, transport costs were down by 1.26 per cent, while goods and services prices dropped by 0.05 per cent.
The month-on-month decline in the inflation rate has been attributed to a decline in food and non-alcoholic beverage prices, by 0.22 per cent.
Within this category, the vegetables group posted a decline of 4.73 per cent.
The second contributor in the drop in prices was fish and sea food, which dropped by 2.15 per cent, followed by the bread and cereals category with prices dropping by 0.13 per cent and milk, and the cheese and egg group, in which prices were down by 0.08 per cent.
March transport costs also declined by 0.06 per cent from the previous month. On the other hand, other categories grew by a modest degree, while other groups remained stable. Furnishings, household equipment & routine household maintenance grew by 0.03 per cent, clothing and footwear grew by 0.02 per cent. In addition, housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels grew by 0.01 per cent.
Recreation and culture group, health, communication, education and goods and services costs were stable in March versus February.
The NCSI report also revealed that the first quarter of 2014 recorded an overall inflation rate increase of 0.82 per cent. The increase was due to the increase in food and non-alcoholic beverages prices, by 2.78 per cent, while housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuel costs grew by 1.38 per cent.
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