1.3 % the Average Consumer Price Decrease forNovember as compared with October 2008

The data issued by the Department of Statistics indicate a decrease in the Consumer Price Average during November 2008 by 1.3% as compared with the previous month (i.e. October 2008). The main commodities groups, which contributed to this decrease, were “Transportation” (10.0%),“Fuels and Electricity” (7.6%),“Diary and its products and Eggs” (2.5%),” Meats and Poultry” (0.9%) and “Cereals and its products” (1.5%).

Meanwhile, the commodities of the “Oil and Fats”, “Clothing and Footwear”, “Vegetables" and “Household Appliances” have witnessed an increase in their prices by (11.3%), (5.1%), (6.0%), and (0.1%) respectively.

The reports show also an increase in the Consumer Price Average during the first eleven months of 2008 by 15.4% as compared with the same period of the previous year. The main commodities groups, which contributed to this increase, were “Fuels and Electricity” (which increased by 55.9%), “Transportation” (23.6%), “Cereals and its products” (31.9%), “Diary and its products and Eggs” (32.7%), “Meats and Poultry” (15.9 %), In contrast, the group of “Communications” witnessed a decrease in its prices by (0.9%).

It is worthy to mention that the prices data are collected by the Department of Statistics monthly through a sample that includes (3786) commercial shops distributed all over the Kingdom’s governorates covering the prices of (822) commodities. The vegetables, fruits, meats, poultry and gold prices are collected four times monthly at the rate of one time every week. Meanwhile, the other commodities prices are collected one time monthly. For the purpose of computing the price index, the (DOS) uses weights for different commodities based on the results of the Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2002. All prices are collected with their relative weights to derive the consumer price index by using (LASPEURE) formula.

The following figure shows the trend of the Consumer Price Index during 2006, 2007 and the first eleven months of 2008.

The following table shows the monthly average change of Consumer Prices during 2007 and 2008.