Riyadh – Mubasher: Saudi Arabia recorded a deflation in January 2017 for the first time in a decade, according to data released by the General Authority for Statistics (GAS) on Tuesday.

Official data showed that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) by the end of January 2017 reached 136.5 points compared to 137.1 points in the same month in 2016, with inflation recording -0.4%, while a month-on-month comparison showed an inflation of -0.2%.

This is the first time the Kingdom has reported deflation since records began in 2007.

As for consumer sectors, year-on-year food and beverages, transport, culture, and hotels and restaurants were down to -4.2%, -3.1%, -2.2%, and -1.1%, respectively.

On the other hand, tobacco surged 19.9%, while communications, miscellaneous goods and services, health, and education increased 2.8%, 2.3%, 2.2%, and 1.9%, respectively. Clothing and footwear, housing, water, electricity, gas, and fuels grew 1.3% and 1.2%, respectively, while furnishings and household equipment and maintenance edged up 0.5%, according to the report.

On a month-on-month basis, tobacco and education remained unchanged from December 2016, while restaurants and hotels, recreation and culture, food and beverages, and transport recorded negative figures of -0.8%, -0.7%, -0.6%, and -0.6%, respectively.

The housing, water, electricity, gas, and fuels segment reached -0.2%, and furnishings and household equipment and maintenance was seen at -0.1%.

Meanwhile, the communications, clothing and footwear, health, and miscellaneous goods and services segments were up 0.7%, 0.3%, 0.2%, and 0.2%, respectively, according the report released by GAS.