Saudi inflation steady at 2.7% in April, driven by housing

DUBAI  – Saudi Arabia’s annual inflation rate was 2.7 percent in April, unchanged from the previous month, driven mostly by housing rental costs, government data released on Monday showed.

Housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels rose by 8.1 percent from a year earlier, while the food and beverage sector – the leading driver for inflation during much of 2022 – rose by 1 percent, the data from the General Authority for Statistics showed.

Overall rents for housing grew 9.6 percent in April 2023. Apartment rents gained 22.2 percent following a similar rise in March.

Within the food sector, milk, milk products and eggs rose by almost 11 percent.

Consumer prices were up 0.4 percent in April from March, the statistics authority said.

The inflation outlook for the Gulf countries is muted compared to that expected in many major economies, a Reuters poll found.

For the full year, it forecast the region’s inflation would be between 2.1 percent and 3.3 percent and decrease further in 2024.