RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s producer prices climbed 7.5 percent year on year in May as higher manufacturing costs, led by chemicals and refined petroleum products, pushed wholesale prices higher, official data showed.
Manufacturing, the largest component of the Producer Price Index, rose 8 percent from a year earlier, according to the General Authority for Statistics. The increase was led by a 15.2 percent jump in chemicals and chemical products, followed by a 12.7 percent rise in wearing apparel and a 10.7 percent increase in refined petroleum products.
The latest Producer Price Index data comes after Saudi Arabia’s annual consumer inflation held steady at 1.8 percent in June, with housing rents and personal care costs remaining the main drivers of price growth.
The increase underscored continued cost pressures across key industrial sectors even as consumer inflation remained relatively contained.
In its latest PPI report, GASTAT said: “This increase was driven by an 8 percent rise in manufacturing prices, a 2 percent increase in prices of electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning supply, and an 8.3 percent rise in prices of water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities.”
