UAE consumer prices rose 2.2 percent in the first nine months of 2011 compared with the same period last year, Statistics Centre Abu Dhabi (SCAD) said in its report on Consumer Price Index (CPI). Average consumer prices rose by 1 percent year-on-year to September 2011, while from August 2011 to September 2011, average consumer prices rose by 0.4 percent. The inflation rate for the third quarter of 2011 compared with the third quarter of 2010 was 1.6 percent. The food and non-alcoholic beverages group accounted for 61.8 percent of the rise in the index. The highest increase was in prices of the meat subgroup which rose by 14.2 percent followed by coffee, tea and cocoa (13.6 percent), fruits (11.8 percent), mineral waters, soft drinks, fruit and vegetable juices (8.8 percent), and vegetables (7.7 percent). Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels group accounted for 35 percent of the increase in CPI while prices for this group increased by 2 percent. Transport group contributed 29 percent to the year-on-year rise in consumer prices for the period.
