Kuwait Tops Gcc Countries On Cost-of-living Scale

Kuwait topped the rest of the Gulf Cooperation Council states on the cost-of-living scale for the period 2011-2020, with the rise in the consumer price index, which measures inflation, high prices and the cost of living during the last ten years, which also increased over the past two years due to the repercussions of the Corona pandemic.

Al-Anba quoting sources said despite the high cost of living, the inflation index in Kuwait saw a decrease in the rate of inflation volatility compared to the rest of the Gulf countries, due to the success of the exchange rate policy that links the dinar to a basket of international currencies compared to the rest of the Gulf countries that link their local currency to the US dollar only.

The average increase in the inflation rate in Kuwait during the last ten years was about 2.5 percent, which is the highest rate of increase in the Gulf region, followed by Saudi Arabia, but with a large difference, as the average increase in inflation during the same period was about 1.7 percent, while it ranked third in terms of the cost of living during the same period followed by Bahrain with 1.5%, then the UAE with 1.2%, Qatar with 1.1%, and finally Oman with slightly less than 1%.

The inflation rate in Kuwait rose by 4.09% last September on an annual basis, according to data announced by the Central Administration of Statistics, and this rate is low compared to the rest of the countries in the world that are witnessing a large inflationary wave, but inflation in Kuwait witnessed leaps before the spread of the Corona pandemic that continued due to the repercussions of The outbreak of the epidemic at a time when the major central banks around the world were seeking to stimulate inflation and set targets to achieve them.

Despite the high cost of living in Kuwait at a rate that is the largest in the Gulf region, the inflation index did not witness a noticeable fluctuation as in the rest of the Gulf countries, where the fluctuation rate of the consumer price index in Kuwait during the past ten years amounted to a little more than 1% compared to Qatar leading the list of Gulf countries at an average fluctuation rate of more than 2%, followed by the UAE and Saudi Arabia, with rates hovering around 1.8%, then Bahrain and Oman, with rates ranging between 1-1.5%.

The National Bank of Kuwait’s research had indicated in a report issued last July that the inflation rate in Kuwait was affected by the global supply chain crisis and the bottlenecks it is witnessing and its direct reflection on food prices.

 

SOURCE : TIMESKUWAIT

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