On Tuesday, the official figures showed that in the UAE the yearly consumer rise averaged 1.9 per cent in the first ten months of the year; however the prices decreased by 0.1% month-on-month in October itself.

The Ministry of Economy's national bureau of statistics said in a statement published on its website that only clothing, health and entertainment categories decreased in cost annually.

As per the figures, the first ten months witnessed the rent and utility prices increasing by 0.96% year on year.

Monica Malik, chief economist with EFG Hermes told that the housing component number is astonishing.

As per the investment bank HC Securities & Investment (HCSI), the UAE property sector was hit by the financial crisis, mainly in Dubai where rental prices decreased almost 38 per cent in 2009.

It should be noted that consumer prices in all of the seven emirates is covered by index.

Among all the basket categories, education and the group of alcoholic drinks and tobacco increased most at 9.51 per cent and 11.14 per cent respectively.

On Friday, the UAE minister of economy, Sultan bin Saeed al Mansouri told that the increase in price has fallen to 3% in the year 2009 from more than 12% previous year.