Qatar: Consumer prices fall for first time in nearly four years in January
Latest reading: Consumer prices fell 1.1% in January, down from December’s 0.2% increase and marking the first decline since March 2021. Costs fell for a wide range of goods, including food, housing and utilities, and transport.
Lastly, consumer prices increased 0.87% in December over the previous month, higher than the 0.08% rise seen in November.
Outlook: Our panelists expect consumer prices to rise over Q1 as a whole on a low base of comparison, and continue to increase at an increasingly sharply pace through Q3, when it’s expected to peak at just under 2%. That will still be low by emerging-market standards thanks to government subsidies and the currency peg to the U.S. dollar.
Panelist insight: EIU analysts added:
“The reserves of the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA, the sovereign wealth fund) will enable the Qatar Central Bank (QCB) to defend the peg to the US dollar in 2025-29.”