The annual inflation rate in Saudi Arabia rose to 2.1% in December from 1.9% in November, slightly below market expectations of 2.2%. Inflation accelerated in several categories, including personal care, social protection, and miscellaneous items (7.0% vs 6.6% in November), recreation, sport, and culture (2.4% vs 1.3%), and restaurants and accommodation services (0.9% vs -0.5%). Price growth also picked up for clothing and footwear (0.4% vs 0.3%) and information and communication (0.2% vs 0.1%), while furnishings and household equipment returned to positive territory (0.1% vs -0.3%). Meanwhile, inflation eased for housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels (4.1% vs 4.3%) and for insurance and financial services (4.1% vs 5.1%), while remaining unchanged for food and beverages (1.3%), tobacco (1.0%), health (0.2%), transport (1.5%), and education services (1.5%). On a monthly basis, consumer prices rose 0.1%, matching the pace of the previous period.
