The rate of inflation in the country was 15 percent in 2008 and a welcome development is that house rents have begun stabilising, according to the Qatar Statistics Authority (QSA). Releasing the 2008 fourth quarter (Q4) inflation figures, the QSA said in a report posted on its website that the consumer price index (CPI) last year rose on average by 15 percent over 2007. In Q4 of 2008, inflation grew 1.4 percent over the previous quarter and rental rates were still higher last year as compared to 2007 but the rate of increase had slowed down. The price index of rents, domestic fuel and energy (which are clubbed together to measure CPI), which has more than 20 percent weight in the CPI, increased by 13.7 percent in Q4 of 2008, down from 18.85 per cent in Q3. The QSA said the Q4 CPI figures were based on the old basket of goods and services. http://thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Local_News&subsection=Qatar+News&month=February2009&file=Local_News2009020753221.xml

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