Oman's producer price index-based inflation rises

Business Monday 21/May/2018 15:48 PM
By: Times News Service
Oman's producer price index-based inflation rises

Muscat: The Sultanate's producer price index (PPI)-based inflation rose by 16.3 per cent in the first quarter of 2018, over the same period of last year, mainly driven by a phenomenal growth in prices of oil and gas products, according to the latest statistics released by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI).
Prices of oil and gas products increased by 19.9 per cent, while the prices of non-oil products marginally grew by 2.2 per cent in the first quarter of 2018, over the same period of the previous year.
Among oil and gas group, crude oil and natural gas price soared by 19.8 per cent, while prices of refined products grew by 20.4 per cent in the first quarter of 2018, over the same period of the previous year.
Among non-oil group, the prices of the manufacturing group rose by 3.5 per cent in the first quarter, while there was a fall in the prices of mining, electricity and water group index by 1.6 per cent.
In the manufacturing group, the prices of most of the subgroups rose at varying degrees. Metal products, machinery and equipment recorded an increase of 11 per cent and other transportable goods by 3.2 per cent, while producer prices of the food, beverage and textile products group declined by 4.2 per cent.
However, in food products, beverages and textiles group, prices of dairy products fell by 6.1 per cent, fish and fruit products, vegetables and oils by 5.9 per cent, bakery products and other food products by 3.9 per cent, garments and textiles and footwear by 0.8 per cent and beverage products by 0.1 per cent, added the NCSI report.
Among transportable goods group, producer price index of products of gases, acids and polypropylene rose by 8.5 per cent, rubber and plastic products by 3.7 per cent, wood and paper products by 2.4 per cent and furniture products, jewellery and iron by one per cent. This was in contrast to the decline in the prices of the products of dyes and pharmaceutical products by 1.9 per cent and products of glass, cement and marble by 1.5 per cent, the NCSI bulletin said.