Inflation rate stabilises at 1.58% in Oman

Muscat: The consumer price inflation in the Sultanate of Oman during March 2023 was about 1.58 per cent, according to the data of the monthly survey of consumer prices issued by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI).

The data further indicates an increase in the prices of the main commodity groups in March 2023 compared to the same month in 2022. The prices of the food and non-alcoholic beverages group rose by 4.08 per cent, the furniture, fixtures, household equipment and regular home maintenance group by 3.81 per cent, the restaurants and hotels group by 3.75 per cent, and the cultural and entertainment group rose by 2.28 per cent.

The miscellaneous goods and services group rose by 1.73 per cent, the health group by 1.23 per cent, the clothing and footwear group by 0.70 percent, the transport group by 0.32 percent, the education group by 0.05 percent, and the housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels group by 0.03 percent. However, the communications group decreased by 0.15 percent, and the tobacco group decreased by 0.02 percent.

According to data for the food and non-alcoholic beverage group; the price index of milk, cheese and eggs increased by 10.44 percent, the prices of fish and seafood by 8.56 percent, the prices of oils and fats by 8.18 percent, the prices of bread and cereals by 4.68 percent, the prices of non-alcoholic beverages by 4.56 percent, the prices of other foodstuffs by 4.19 percent, and the prices of sugar, jam, honey and sweets increased by 3.78 percent, fruit prices increased by 3.57 percent, meat prices increased by 2.12 percent, while the vegetable group decreased by 3.63 percent.

At the governorate level; the Governorate of Al Buraimi witnessed the highest rate of inflation at 2.35 percent, followed by the Governorate of Al Dakhiliyah at 1.78 percent, followed by the Governorate of Muscat at 1.77 percent.

The Al Dhahirah Governorate saw an inflation rate of 1.71 percent, followed by the Governorate of North Al Batinah at 1.40 percent, then the Governorate of Dhofar at 1.39 percent while North and South Al Sharqiyah recorded the lowest inflation rate of 1.01 percent.