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1/2/25, 6:16 PM Global inflation: UAE tracks prices around world to prevent unjustified hikes - News | Khaleej Times
Global inflation: UAE tracks prices around world to prevent unjustified
hikes

Under a new policy, the country banned increasing prices of nine basic consumer goods including cooking oil, eggs, dairy and rice
Published: Wed 25 Dec 2024, 12:33 PM Updated: Wed 25 Dec 2024, 9:23 PM
Waheed Abbas
By Waheed Abbas Follow us
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UAE petrol prices for
UAE petrol prices for
January 2025 announced
January 2025 announced

Global inflation rates are higher than those in the UAE despite the country being
a food-importing country, a senior official has said.
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UAE announces fuel
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full tank cost in January… commodities.

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visitors, UAE residents…
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Abdullah Ahmed Al Saleh, undersecretary of the Ministry of Economy, said the
government tracks prices of consumer goods globally and compares them locally
to ensure that there is no increase in prices against the trend to ensure consumer
protection.
“The global inflation is above the local (UAE) rate. The local inflation saw a 2.2
per cent average annual increase in the last three years, whereas inflation
globally, especially of food commodities, increased up to 5-6 per cent,” Al Saleh
told Khaleej Times in an interview.

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Since UAE is a net importer of food products, he said prices are impacted locally
by higher shipping costs, global geopolitical crises, and natural calamities.
“So, we monitor all these increases in the international markets and compare the
trend in the local market to make sure that there is no increase in the local market
against the trend in the international prices,” he added.
According to International Monetary Fund's 'World Economic Outlook' released in
October, global headline inflation is projected to average 5.8 per cent in 2024 and
4.3 per cent in 2025 after averaging 6.7 per cent in 2023. This is compared to
UAE inflation expected at 2.3 per cent and 2.1 per cent inflation in 2024 and
2025, respectively. The consumer price index in UAE averaged 1.6 per cent in
2023.
Abdullah Ahmed Al Saleh was speaking on the sidelines of a press conference
organised to announce a new pricing policy that was previously introduced to
monitor the pricing of essential consumer goods.
UAE banned increasing prices of nine basic consumer
Under the new policy, UAE banned increasing prices of nine basic consumer
goods – cooking oil, eggs, dairy, rice, sugar, poultry, legumes, bread, and wheat
goods
— the price of which can only be raised with prior approval from the Ministry. The
new changes are scheduled to take effect on January 2, 2025.
The under-secretary of the Ministry of Economy also explained the new
Ministerial Decision No. 246 of 2024 on monitoring prices of essential consumer
goods, the Ministerial Decision No. 245 of 2024 concerning the unit price of
certain consumer goods, and the Ministerial Decision No. 247 of 2024 concerning
the Code of Conduct in the consumer goods sector.
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