Riyadh – Mubasher: Saudi wholesale price index (inflation) registered a 16.1% year-on-year increase in April 2018.

The annual rise in the Kingdom’s inflation was attributed to imposing the value-added tax (VAT), in addition to amending prices of oil derivatives starting from January 2018, the Saudi General Authority for Statistics’ (GASTAT) report showed.

Other goods section surged 34.2% in April after refined petroleum products’ prices levelled up 93.9%, followed by food products beverages and tobacco and textiles with 10.6% as the prices of tobacco products and beverages soared 105.8% and 54.9%, respectively.

On the other hand, agriculture and fishery products section went down 1.7% as live animals decreased 4.8%, while products of agriculture shed 0.7%.

Month-on-month, Saudi inflation inched down 0.2% to 116.9 points in April, from 117.1 points in March.