Inflation across the six GCC states held below 2 percent for a second consecutive year in 2025, edging up to 1.8 percent from 1.6 percent in 2024, according to the Statistical Centre for the Cooperation Council for the Arab Countries of the Gulf (GCC-Stat).
The figure sits well under the global average of 4.2 percent, and below rates recorded across emerging markets (5.3 percent), Japan (3.2 percent), the United States (2.6 percent), the European Union and advanced economies (2.5 percent), and the euro area (2.1 percent).
GCC-Stat said the reading reflects the effectiveness of economic policies in containing inflationary pressures. Housing and miscellaneous goods and services were the dominant drivers, together accounting for around 73 percent of the overall rise in consumer prices.
Within the consumer price index breakdown, miscellaneous goods and services posted the highest category inflation at 5.4 percent, followed by housing at 4.0 percent. Culture and entertainment came in at 2.0 percent, restaurants and hotels at 1.6 percent, food and beverages at 1.2 percent, and education at 1.0 percent. Health, communications, and furniture all held at 0.0 percent, while transport declined 0.2 percent.
The report traced GCC inflation back to 2020, when it stood at 1.5 percent. It rose to 2.4 percent in 2021 and peaked at 3.2 percent in 2022, before falling to 2.3 percent in 2023 and 1.6 percent in 2024, with the slight uptick in 2025 leaving the trend broadly stable relative to global movements.
Among the bloc’s major trading partners, Brazil posted the highest inflation rate at 5.0 percent, followed by the United Kingdom at 3.9 percent, Japan at 3.2 percent, India at 2.8 percent, and the United States at 2.6 percent. Germany recorded 2.2 percent, South Korea 2.1 percent, Italy 1.5 percent, and France 0.9 percent. China registered 0.0 percent.
GCC-Stat noted that a 2.1 percent global decline in food and beverage prices helped ease imported inflation, though a 15.2 percent rise in natural gas prices and ongoing geopolitical tensions remain risk factors. The report concluded that the convergence of inflation rates across member states, and their sustained stability below 2 percent, creates conditions that support deeper economic and monetary integration across the bloc.
