Inflation down by 1.4 per cent in first half

AMMAN — Inflation in the first half of 2016 went down by 1.4 per cent, compared to the same period of 2015, the Department of Statistics (DoS) announced on Sunday.

Main item groups that contributed to the drop were transportation (7 per cent), meat and poultry (8.1 per cent), fuel and lighting (7.8 per cent), vegetables, dried and canned legumes (7.2 per cent), and fruit and nuts (4.7 per cent), according to a DoS report e-mailed to The Jordan Times.

An increase in prices during the January-June period of 2016 was witnessed in rents (3 per cent), culture and entertainment (5.1 per cent), clothes (3.6 per cent), and tobacco and cigarettes (1.6 per cent).

The DoS report highlighted that average consumer prices in June 2016 declined by 2.2 per cent, compared with the same month of 2015.

On a monthly basis, average consumer prices in June 2016 went up by 0.1 per cent compared to the previous month.

DoS started calculating the inflation rate considering 2010 a base year, instead of 2006, starting from January 2015 to conform to international classifications and approaches.