According to a recently released note by Jadwa Investment, a leading Saudi investment firm, inflation in the Kingdom was down in 2014 to 2.7% on average, and found a deceleration in prices to 2.4% year-on-year.
Jadwa’s Head of Research Dr. Fahad Alturki wrote in an investor note:
“The Central Department of Statistics and Information (CDSI) has released Consumer Price Index data for December, showing a deceleration in prices to 2.4 percent year-on-year. Overall inflation for 2014 averaged 2.7 percent, down from 3.5 percent in 2013 with most components of the headline index recording a slowdown. We expect inflation to be subdued throughout 2015. External factors’ contribution to inflation will remain weak, particularly given a strengthening USD and the weaker prospects of global economic growth. We thus estimate an average annual inflation rate of 2.6 percent for 2015.”
The bank said that in 2015, it is expected for inflation to be “mainly subdued, but still driven by rent and housing related services as well as food prices.”
