In spite of strong economic growth, Abu Dhabi’s inflation will ease only by the end of this year, according to Department of Planning and Economy (DPE) officials.

DPE released its first Economic and Social Report for 2008, and will come up with one early next year.

It measures the Consumer Price Index for five years in addition to the performance of different economic and social sectors.

Inflation in 2007 stood at 10.66 per cent even as high housing costs were affecting residents, the Gulf News said quoting from the report.

’The inflationary pressures from the housing market will ease gradually with the introduction of more new units in the coming two to three years, and this will help to relieve the heavy burden of the overall inflation rate,’ Akeel Sharif Foolathi, economic consultant in the department, was quoted as saying.

’With the ongoing economic growth, inflation can be inevitable, and hence we will work on containing it, and we hope that the efforts exerted by the federal minister of economy will yield fruit as well. But in any case there will be no more economic shocks in the future, this we can assure.’

’Abu Dhabi’s GDP grew at an average annual growth rate of 25.4 per cent during the past five years, and we expect to maintain this rate in the years to come,’ he added.