RIYADH: Qatar’s consumer price index for September reached 107.82 points, up 0.82 percent year on year, driven by a rise in recreation and culture group costs, new figures revealed.
Data released by the Gulf country’s National Planning Council showed that the increase in CPI is primarily due to the prices rising in five groups, with recreation and culture up by 12.57 percent, miscellaneous goods and services by 6.24 percent, and communication by 3.96 percent.
Restaurants and hotels saw a 2.74 percent rise, while education was by 1.04 percent.
This aligns with projections that Qatar’s average inflation rate is expected to continuously decline by 0.6 percentage points between 2024 and 2029, according to data from Statista, a German platform specializing in data analysis and visualization.
According to the forecast, in 2029, inflation will have decreased for the seventh consecutive year to 1.96 percent.
The data further reported a decrease in price levels in “housing, water, electricity and other fuel” by 4.17 percent, “food and beverages” by 3.3 percent, “health” by 1.63 percent, “furniture and household equipment” by 1.52 percent, “clothing and footwear” by 1.26 percent, and “transport” by 0.34 percent.
According to the newly released data, no changes were recorded on “tobacco.”
In August, an analysis by Standard Chartered said that Qatar is on track to restore government revenues to pre-2014 oil price shock levels and double its economy by 2031.
In its report, the UK-based bank said this recovery is a testament to the country’s strategic positioning within the global energy market and its ongoing efforts for economic diversification.
The analysis done at the time also highlighted that Qatar is currently the sixth-largest gas producer in the world and holds the third-largest reserves of fossil fuel, allowing the nation to leverage rising hydrocarbon prices effectively.
Standard Chartered said the Gulf country’s non-oil economy is also growing steadily, contributing to two-thirds of the country’s gross domestic product.
The bank further said that Qatar’s strong growth in the liquefied natural gas sector will also contribute to the nation’s economy in the coming years.
The study also underscored the importance of international financial institutions and foreign investments in driving Qatar’s growth in the non-oil private sector, which includes areas such as tourism, manufacturing, finance, and logistics.
Qatar significantly boosted its global profile in the economic landscape after hosting the FIFA World Cup 2022, the International Monetary Fund said in July, while in April the World Bank forecasted the country’s economy would grow by 2.1 percent in 2024, before accelerating to 3.2 percent in 2025.
