Countrywide inflation fell to 3.61 per cent in February as the strengthening dirham pushed down import prices, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics.
The inflation rate decreased by 0.06 percentage points compared to January. Declines in the prices of clothing, medical care and restaurants led the index down in February.
Clothing and footwear fell by 0.6 percentage points month-on-month, and 1.55 percentage points annually, which accounted for the difference between the February and January figures.
Housing and utility costs were 7.4 per cent higher than 12 months ago, and 0.2 percentage points higher than the previous month.
Last month, housing registered a month-on-month increase of 1.9 percentage points, indicating that the pace of acceleration is decreasing.
Recent reports from the real estate consultancies JLL and Asteco have predicted that the housing prices will remain static or fall across 2015.
JLL argues that Dubai house prices could fall by as much as 10 per cent this year, while Asteco points to a supply of 13,000 new homes, which it says is likely to “soften the market further”.
Food prices recorded a rise in February, increasing 0.2 per cent month-on-month. Different emirates faced different levels of food price inflation, however, with a monthly fall of 1.5 percentage points in Abu Dhabi, and a rise of 1.2 percentage points in Sharjah.
This appears to have been the result of a 10.9 per cent increase in the cost of oils and fats. Recent flooding in Malaysia has reduced the supply of palm oil, leading to a price rise.
The Food Price Index, published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, showed an overall decrease in food prices in February, with prices sinking to their lowest levels since 2010.
Food accounts for 18 per cent of the consumer price index.
Inflation fell overall in the two most populous emirates, Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Annual price growth fell 0.2 percentage points to 4.3 per cent in Dubai, while inflation fell to 4.6 per cent from 5 per cent in Abu Dhabi.
Since July 2014, the Bloomberg Dollar Index has risen by about 20 per cent against a basket of major world currencies. This has been driven by expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates later in the year, and the reviving pace of growth of the US economy.
The dirham is pegged to the dollar at Dh3.67 to $1.
abouyamourn@thenational.ae
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What is graphene?
Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged like honeycomb.
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were "playing about" with sticky tape and graphite - the material used as "lead" in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But as they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment had led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
At the time, many believed it was impossible for such thin crystalline materials to be stable. But examined under a microscope, the material remained stable, and when tested was found to have incredible properties.
It is many times times stronger than steel, yet incredibly lightweight and flexible. It is electrically and thermally conductive but also transparent. The world's first 2D material, it is one million times thinner than the diameter of a single human hair.
But the 'sticky tape' method would not work on an industrial scale. Since then, scientists have been working on manufacturing graphene, to make use of its incredible properties.
In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. Their discovery meant physicists could study a new class of two-dimensional materials with unique properties.
The Perfect Couple
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Jack Reynor
Creator: Jenna Lamia
Rating: 3/5
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The alternatives
• Founded in 2014, Telr is a payment aggregator and gateway with an office in Silicon Oasis. It’s e-commerce entry plan costs Dh349 monthly (plus VAT). QR codes direct customers to an online payment page and merchants can generate payments through messaging apps.
• Business Bay’s Pallapay claims 40,000-plus active merchants who can invoice customers and receive payment by card. Fees range from 1.99 per cent plus Dh1 per transaction depending on payment method and location, such as online or via UAE mobile.
• Tap started in May 2013 in Kuwait, allowing Middle East businesses to bill, accept, receive and make payments online “easier, faster and smoother” via goSell and goCollect. It supports more than 10,000 merchants. Monthly fees range from US$65-100, plus card charges of 2.75-3.75 per cent and Dh1.2 per sale.
• 2checkout’s “all-in-one payment gateway and merchant account” accepts payments in 200-plus markets for 2.4-3.9 per cent, plus a Dh1.2-Dh1.8 currency conversion charge. The US provider processes online shop and mobile transactions and has 17,000-plus active digital commerce users.
• PayPal is probably the best-known online goods payment method - usually used for eBay purchases - but can be used to receive funds, providing everyone’s signed up. Costs from 2.9 per cent plus Dh1.2 per transaction.
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Stree
Producer: Maddock Films, Jio Movies
Director: Amar Kaushik
Cast: Rajkummar Rao, Shraddha Kapoor, Pankaj Tripathi, Aparshakti Khurana, Abhishek Banerjee
Rating: 3.5
BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE
Starring: Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton, Jenny Ortega
Director: Tim Burton
Rating: 3/5
Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
Director: Goran Hugo Olsson
Rating: 5/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Company profile: buybackbazaar.com
Name: buybackbazaar.com
Started: January 2018
Founder(s): Pishu Ganglani and Ricky Husaini
Based: Dubai
Sector: FinTech, micro finance
Initial investment: $1 million
Hidden killer
Sepsis arises when the body tries to fight an infection but damages its own tissue and organs in the process.
The World Health Organisation estimates it affects about 30 million people each year and that about six million die.
Of those about three million are newborns and 1.2 are young children.
Patients with septic shock must often have limbs amputated if clots in their limbs prevent blood flow, causing the limbs to die.
Campaigners say the condition is often diagnosed far too late by medical professionals and that many patients wait too long to seek treatment, confusing the symptoms with flu.