Transport, housing, fuel, push Oman inflation to 2.82% in March

Muscat: Year-on-year consumer inflation in March 2017 touched 2.82 per cent, on the back of a 10.83 per cent rise in prices of the transport set along with a 2.19 per cent price hike in the housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels set.
According to the latest consumer price index report from the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), food and non-alcoholic beverages set prices rose 0.36 per cent while tobacco prices surged 24.38 per cent. Clothing and footwear went up 0.01 per cent, and furnishings, household equipment & routine household maintenance prices increased 1.53 per cent in March, compared with last year prices.
Health and communications sets logged a price fall of 0.13 per cent and 3.02 per cent respectively. However, recreation and culture, as well as education saw prices rise by 0.49 per cent and 2.85 per cent while restaurants and hotels set recorded a price increase of 0.38 per cent. Prices of miscellaneous goods and services went up 1.59 per cent.
In the food and beverages set, bread and cereals prices fell 1.29 per cent while meat prices rose 0.45 per cent. Fish and seafood too logged a price rise of 4.77 per cent while prices of milk, cheese and eggs declined 2.01 per cent.
Prices fell across oils and fats, and fruits subsets at 0.18 per cent and 1.17 per cent respectively, in contrast with a 3.12 per cent rise in the vegetables subset. Sugar, Jam, honey & confectionary prices went up 0.33 per cent, whereas other food products prices decreased 0.44 per cent.
Non-alcoholic beverages registered a 0.51 per cent price rise in March 2017 compared with prices for the same month last year.