Saudi Arabia: Inflation picks up in March from February
Latest reading: Consumer prices were up 1.8% on a year-on-year basis in March, following a 1.7% increase in the previous month.
Relative to the previous month’s data, there were higher price pressures for food and non-alcoholic beverages (+0.3% on a year-on-year basis vs 0.0% in February) and recreation and entertainment (+2.0% vs +1.8% in February). In contrast, there were milder price pressures for clothing and footwear (-0.1% vs 0.0% in February), housing and utilities (+3.9% vs +4.1% in February) and transport (+0.9% vs +1.4% in February).
Finally, consumer prices increased 0.29% in March on a month-on-month basis, following a 0.04% increase in the prior month.