General inflation in Oman lowest among GCC countries

Muscat: At 0.01 per cent, Oman registered the lowest rate of general inflation among the Gulf Cooperation Council countries in the month of March, according to the general inflation index for the regional group.
For the group as a whole, the general inflation figure registered a rise of 1.8 per cent in the month of March 2016 against the same period last year.
The general inflation index takes into account the prices of food and beverages, transport, restaurants and hotels, and tobacco products but excludes housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels.
Saudi Arabia saw the highest inflation rate with 4.3 per cent, followed by Bahrain and Qatar at 3.3 per cent each. Kuwait came next with 3.1 per cent followed by UAE with 1.4 per cent and the Sultanate 0.1 per cent for the same period.
Tobacco registered the highest inflation rate of 13.9 per cent while transport registered an increase of 2.4 per cent, food and beverages rose 1.3 per cent while restaurants and hotel group fell by 0.6 per cent.
The inflation rate in food and beverages group has seen an increase in March 2016 against the same month last year in most GCC countries. The group saw an rise of 4.1 per cent in Kuwait followed by Bahrain with 3.9 per cent, UAE with 2.7 per cent and Saudi Arabia with 0.6 per cent against a fall in Qatar by 5.4 per cent, UAE by 3.7 per cent and Oman by 0.4 per cent.
The transport group saw a increase for the same period in Bahrain by 13.1 per cent, followed by Saudi Arabia with 12.4 per cent, Qatar with 1.5 per cent, Oman with 1. 9 per cent and Kuwait by 1.4 percent.