Qatar- Education and rent fuelled price rise

DOHA: Prices rose 2.7 percent in the country in 2015 fuelled mainly by the rising cost of education house rent communications and transport.

Education became 18 percent costlier in the year mainly burdening limited-income families with school-going children. The year also saw tobacco prices surge by 6.3 percent although tobacco use is gradually being discouraged. Tobacco’s share in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) basket is the lowest at 0.27 percent among a dozen items. House rents (which are referred to in the CPI basket as ‘housing’ and clubbed with cooking gas power and water) increased 3.4 percent last year. The rent and its accompaniments have the highest weight in the CPI basket at 21.89 percent.

This in simple words means that a household spending QR10000 a month for example spends roughly QR2189 on average on house rent gas electricity and water. Communications (phones) and transport became 3.2 percent and 3.1 percent expensive in the year respectively. The cost of food and beverages increased negligibly (by just 0.7 percent) year-on-year last December CPI figures released by the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics for December 2915 show.

Eating out (restaurants) medical services clothing and footwear became cheaper in 2015 albeit marginally. Eating out seems to be so popular with families particularly that its share in the CPI basket (6.08 percent) is more than that of education.

Looking at monthly changes in the CPI (November to December 2015) food clothing furniture and miscellaneous goods became cheaper.

The Peninsula