Qatar food inflation recovers despite Saudi-led sanctions

19-Sep-2017 - Last updated on 20-Sep-2017 at 12:21 GMT

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Qatar's government might have succeeded in reducing the impact of economic sanctions placed on it by other Arab countries after official figures reported that food price inflation had eased during August.

Food prices had spiked since Saudi Arabia cut transport and diplomatic ties with Qatar in June—a move soon followed by Bahrain, Egypt and the UAE.

The closure of Qatar's land border with Saudi, and a disruption in shipping links that traditionally passed through Dubai's Jebel Ali port, prevented the delivery of many perishable goods.

By July, food and beverage prices had climbed 4.5% from a year earlier, their fastest rise since at least 2014, and 4.2% from the previous month.

This increase appears to have been stemmed, according to data for August released by the Ministry of Development Planning & Statistics, which stated that food price inflation had grown by 2.8% compared to 2016, and fell back 0.6% from July.

The figures suggest that Qatar has managed to establish new channels to obtain food economically.

Qatari shipping lines have been establishing new services via Oman, Kuwait and the Indian subcontinent.

Qatari food processors have boosted their operations to make up for the disruption to imports.