Global Inflationary pressures are closer to UAE consumers than it appears

Global Inflationary pressures are closer to UAE consumers than it appears

Dubai: Global inflationary spikes are getting closer to the UAE consumers than they might think. Although the forecasts for inflation in the UAE this year doesn’t look as alarming as for a number of developed and emerging economies, there are clear indications of price increase across the board. While inflation is forecast at 2.4 per cent this year from 0.2 per cent in 2021, the UAE Central Bank warned that the country is not insulated from a global inflation surge. “Soaring global inflation is a concern for open economies such as the UAE, where imported inflation would ultimately pass-through to domestic prices and feed into headline inflation,” it said in its latest economic review. While the extraordinarily easy fiscal and monetary policies adopted by governments and central banks to support growth during the pandemic is manifesting in rising prices, supply bottlenecks, gaps in production too have added to the global price surge. The war in Ukraine is exacerbating already high food and fuel prices. Analysts expect food and energy prices will soon get reflected in the overall consumer prices in the GCC. According to Monica Malik, Chief Economist, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, “The rise in transport costs is largely due