São Paulo – Escalating in several countries, inflation has slowed down in May in Saudi Arabia, an Arab nation in the Gulf. The annualized price increase reached 2.3% in April and diminished to 2.2% in May. Information was released on the Arab News website based on the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) data.
The sectors that most contributed to inflation in the period were housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels, which advanced from 0.2% in April to 0.5% in May. Transport slowed down, from 4.6% in April to 4.1% in May. In hotels and restaurants, prices rose 3.2% in April against 4.1% in May. Deflation was recorded in clothing and footwear; -0.7% in April and -1.7% in May.
According to Arab News, Saudi Arabia is energy-rich and subsidizes its energy products to redistribute government income directly. The Saudi government introduced a price cap on fuel prices to contain inflation. The amounts paid for fuel by electricity producers are also lower to proportionate a reduction in electricity rates to consumers.
Translated by Elúsio Brasileiro
