Riyadh – Mubasher: Saudi Arabia’s consumer price index (CPI), which is known as inflation, increased 2.5% to 107.3 points during 2018, compared to 104.7 points in 2017, the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) reported.

The Saudi state-run statistics agency attributed the CPI’s growth in December to a 12% rise in transport section, followed by a 10.2% increase in tobacco section, and a 7.3% hike in restaurants and hotels.

On the other hand, the prices of housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels section decreased 5.1%, while clothes and footwear section declined 3.2%.

On a monthly basis, the GCC nation’s inflation shed 0.3% to 106.2 basis points in December, compared to 106.5 in November.

Month-on-month, prices of food and beverages inched down 0.5%, followed by a 0.5% drop in prices of housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels section, and transport went down 0.2%.

On a monthly basis, prices of tobacco, clothes and footwear, recreation and culture, education, and hotels and restaurants section remained unchanged in December.