RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s annual inflation rate rose by 2.9 percent in November compared to the same month last year, driven by a rise in housing, water, and food prices, according to the latest figures released by the General Authority for Statistics. The inflation rate, however, eased from 3 percent in October and 3.1 percent in September Housing costs driving inflation in the Kingdom The report from GASTAT suggested that housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuel prices increased by 4.7 percent due to the increase in actual rentals for housing which went up 5.3 percent in November. “Prices for housing were the main driver of the inflation rate in November 2022 due to their high relative importance in the Saudi consumer basket with a weight of 25.5 percent,” said GASTAT in the report. According to the report, food prices in November increased by 3.6 percent, while meat prices alone rose by 4.5 percent. The report further pointed out that restaurants and hotel prices increased by 6.9 percent year-on-year, due to the increase in catering services prices by 6.9 percent. Education prices in November witnessed a rise of 3.6 percent, mainly due to a rise in pre-primary and primary education fees. The report added that recreation and culture prices increased by 2 percent, mainly resulting from the increase in rents for rest houses and camps by 9.9 percent. Conversely, the GASTAT report showed that personal goods and services prices decreased by 0.4 percent year-on-year in November driven by the decrease in charges to bring domestic helper prices by 4.6 percent. In November, clothing and footwear prices also went down by 1.3 percent compared to the same month in the previous year, due to the decrease in garment prices. November 2022 V October 2022 “Compared to October 2022, consumer prices increased slightly by 0.1 percent. The monthly CPI was affected by the increase in housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels prices by 1.4 percent, as a result of the increase in actual rentals for housing by 1.6 percent,” the report said. The prices of transport decreased by 0.1 percent in November compared to last month, while restaurants and hotel prices rose by 0.2 percent. Clothing and footwear prices went down 0.3 percent in November compared to October 2022, while household equipment and maintenance prices dipped 0.7 percent during the same period. The Saudi government, in its recently released budget statement, forecast inflation in the Kingdom to average 2.6 percent by the end of 2022 “under exceptional global circumstances.”