Inflation remains low in GCC, expected to fall globally

Inflation remains low in GCC, expected to fall globally

Muscat: Inflation in the GCC averaged at around the 4 per cent mark and showed a downward trend for most member countries during the first half of 2022, according to a new report.

“The proactive policies by the governments in the region and subsidies on food and energy items helped to keep inflation at relatively low levels,” the Kuwait-based investment strategy and research firm Kamco Invest said in its latest report.

The year 2022 was a turbulent year for the global economy with runaway inflation and the cost-of-living crisis being dominant issues facing the bulk of the countries globally. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) economies were no exception that faced the challenges of higher prices that worsened due to excessive reliance on imported products,” it added.

The report further said that global energy prices sky-rocketed during 2022 mainly driven by the Russia-Ukraine conflict as Russia’s energy exports were sanctioned. The EU countries, Russia’s biggest natural gas and oil export destination, started to diversify and look elsewhere for energy imports to curtail Russia’s ability to wage war. The sanctioning of Russia’s energy exports created a supply drop in global energy markets hence pushing oil and natural gas prices up. The Russia-Ukraine conflict also created