The UAE Ministry of Economy released its first-ever monthly inflation data and said inflation in the second-largest Arab economy was an annual 4.94 per cent in the first four months of 2009, reported Trade Arabia.
Consumer prices fell 2.7 percent in the same period, reflecting a drop in housing costs in a declining property market, the Gulf state’s first-ever monthly inflation data showed on Wednesday.
The consumer price index of the second-largest Arab economy stood at 113.07 points at the end of April compared with 116.18 points at the end of January, the Ministry of Economy said in a statement.
The decline was due mainly to a 5 per cent drop in the housing index over the period to 113.01 points in April compared with 118.94 points in January.
“This gives us a good sense that for the year as a whole you could have deflation, and it is being driven by a sharp fall in rents,” said Giyas Gokkent, chief economist at National Bank of Abu Dhabi.
The UAE has until now released inflation data only once a year, typically months after the year ends.
Rising house prices were one of the drivers of inflation in the UAE in recent years and price rises peaking at a 20-year high of 12.3 per cent in 2008, the ministry said.
Food and beverage costs rose an annual 4.84 per cent while housing costs advanced 4.99 percent, it said.
Real estate prices are slumping in the UAE, particularly in the emirate of Dubai, where residential real estate prices fell an average 41 per cent in the first three months of the year, according to data of property consultants Colliers.
Dubai rents have also fallen sharply. Landmark Advisory, a property consultancy, said last month rents fell as much as 50 per cent in some areas in Dubai from peaks late last year.
