‘Prices of food items dropped or remained stable since 2012’

AMMAN — The Ministry of Industry, Trade and Supply has carried out a study to compare the prices of 49 food items in the years 2012, 2013 and 2014, which showed that the prices of 75 per cent of the commodities either went down or remained stable. 

The price of 35 food items, such as vegetable oil, sugar, tea, poultry, and local and imported red meat went down this year, while the price of rice remained stable, according to a ministry statement. 

Meanwhile, the cost of certain types of red meat, milk and legumes went up, according to the study. 

The ministry said that the results of the study matched with inflation figures released by the department of Statistics (DoS), which showed that inflation stood at 4.8 per cent in 2012, and 5.6 per cent in 2013, while in the first 11 months of this year, it dropped to 3 per cent. 

Citing DoS figures, the statement said vegetable prices dropped by 1.5 per cent so far this year, in addition to a slight drop in the prices of fuel and telecommunications services. 

Goods and services that contributed the most to inflation this year were rents (7 per cent), tobacco and cigarettes (13.9 per cent), clothes (10 per cent), education (4.7 per cent) and transportation (2.1 per cent), the statement said, citing DoS reports.