RIYADH: Qatar’s general producer price index for the industrial sector stood at 114.01 points in February, reflecting stability compared to January and a 0.33 percent decrease year on year.
Released by the Gulf country’s Planning and Statistics Authority, the data indicated that the PPI for the industrial sector is made up of four main components: mining and quarrying, which constitutes 82.46 percent, manufacturing at 15.85 percent, electricity at 1.16 percent, and water at 0.53 percent.
The newly released figures align with Qatar’s inflation easing by 1.15 percent year on year in January, with the consumer price index settling at 107.45 points, driven by declines in food, housing, and transport costs, official figures showed.
This trend is consistent with the 2.53 percent drop in CPI in January, mainly attributable to a decline in housing, water, electricity, and other fuel costs.
The decline comes as Qatar is projected to record the lowest inflation in the Gulf Cooperation Council region this year, averaging 1.4 percent, below the GCC’s 1.9 percent and the wider Arab region’s 8.5 percent, according to Kamco Invest.
The data further showed that the mining and quarrying sector index declined by 0.12 percent compared to January, primarily owing to a 0.11 percent drop in the prices of crude oil and natural gas extraction, while the costs for other mining and quarrying activities remained unchanged.
Annually, the sector’s index dropped by 0.42 percent, primarily due to a decline in oil and gas extraction, although there was a modest 0.06 percent increase in prices for other mining and quarrying activities.
In the manufacturing sector, the index rose by 0.50 percent on a monthly basis, driven by price increases in rubber and plastic products, refined petroleum, chemicals, and basic metals, as well as cement, non-metallic minerals, and beverages.
On an annual basis, the manufacturing sector index increased by 0.60 percent compared to the corresponding month a year earlier, driven by a notable rise in prices for basic metals, cement and non-metallic mineral products, and rubber and plastic products, as well as chemical products, beverages, and printing.
In the electricity, gas, and air conditioning supply sector, the index rose by 1.01 percent compared to January but showed a year-on-year decline of 8.28 percent.
The water supply sector saw a decrease in its index by 2.75 percent compared to January but recorded an annual increase of 7.24 percent in February.
The numbers also indicated that prices declined for refined petroleum goods and food products, while there was no change in the prices of printing and reproduction of recorded media.
