As of October 2024, the overall inflation rate in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries increased to 1.7% year-on-year, as reported by the Gulf Statistics Centre.

This rise marks a notable uptick compared to the same month in the previous year, reflecting changes in consumer prices across various sectors.

The Gulf Statistics Centre attributed the overall inflation increase primarily to a 6.4% rise in housing costs and a 3% increase in the prices of goods and services.

Other notable increases include a 1.7% rise in restaurant and hotel prices, a 1.4% increase in cultural and recreational services, and a 1.2% rise in educational costs.

Additionally, food and beverage prices recorded a modest increase of 0.8%.

Conversely, several categories experienced price declines, with transportation costs decreasing by 3.6%, followed by a 1.9% drop in furniture and household equipment.

Tobacco prices fell by 1.1%, and communications services saw a 0.9% decrease, while clothing and footwear prices dropped by 0.4%.

Health sector prices remained stable, showing no change compared to previous levels.

In an international context, the GCC inflation rate was recorded as lower than the inflation rate in the European Union, which stood at 2.3%.

Similarly, it was lower than rates observed in several of the GCC’s major trading partners, with Brazil reporting the highest inflation at 4.8% for October 2024 as compared to the same month last year.

India followed with an inflation rate of 4.4%, while the United Kingdom recorded 3.2%, the United States 2.6%, and Japan 2.3%.

Other significant rates included Germany at 2.0%, South Korea at 1.3%, France at 1.2%, Italy at 0.9%, and China at 0.3%.