force latin number encoding by default

client/lib/format-number-compact/test/index.js

@@ -290,11 +290,11 @@ describe( 'formatNumberCompact', () => {
 		} );
 		test( 'shows 2 sig figs for counts < 10000', () => {
 			const counts = formatNumberCompact( 1234, 'ar' );
-			expect( counts ).toEqual( '١٫٢ ألف' );
+			expect( counts ).toEqual( '1.2 ألف' );
 		} );
 		test( 'shows leading sig figs for counts > 10000', () => {
 			const counts = formatNumberCompact( 123456, 'ar' );
-			expect( counts ).toEqual( '١٢٣ ألف' );
+			expect( counts ).toEqual( '123 ألف' );
 		} );
 	} );
 	describe( 'sv', () => {

packages/i18n-calypso/src/i18n.js

@@ -170,14 +170,15 @@ I18N.prototype.emit = function ( ...args ) {
  * Formats numbers using locale settings and/or passed options.
  * @param   {string | number}  number to format (required)
  * @param   {number | Object}  options  Number of decimal places or options object (optional)
+ * @param   {boolean}          forceLatin Whether to use latin numbers by default (optional. default = true)
  * @returns {string | number}  Formatted number as string, or original number if formatting fails
  */
-I18N.prototype.numberFormat = function ( number, options = {} ) {
+I18N.prototype.numberFormat = function ( number, options = {}, forceLatin = true ) {
 	const decimals = typeof options === 'number' ? options : options.decimals || 0;
 	const browserSafeLocale = this.getBrowserSafeLocale();
 
 	try {
-		return Intl.NumberFormat( browserSafeLocale, {
+		return Intl.NumberFormat( `${ browserSafeLocale }${ forceLatin ? '-u-nu-latn' : '' }`, {
 			minimumFractionDigits: decimals, // default is 0
 			maximumFractionDigits: decimals, // default is the greater between minimumFractionDigits and 3
 			// TODO clk numberFormat this may be the only difference, where some cases use 2 (they can just pass the option to Intl.NumberFormat)