Malta’s and euro area annual inflation at 1.8%

In February, Malta's twelve-month moving average rate of inflation stood at 3.2 per cent and the annual rate stood at 1.8 per cent.

Euro area annual inflation was 1.8% in February 2013, down from 2.0% in January. A year earlier the rate was 2.7%. Monthly inflation was 0.4% in February 2013. European Union annual inflation was 2.0% in February 2013, down from 2.1% in January. A year earlier the rate was 2.9%. Monthly inflation was 0.4% in February 2013.

These figures come from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

In February 2013, the lowest annual rates were observed in Greece (0.1%), Portugal (0.2%) and Latvia (0.3%), and the highest in Romania (4.8%), Estonia (4.0%) and the Netherlands (3.2%). Compared with January 2013, annual inflation fell in seventeen Member States, remained stable in three and rose in six. The lowest 12-month average rates up to February 2013 were registered in Greece (0.7%), Sweden (0.9%) and Latvia (1.8%), and the highest in Hungary (5.2%), Estonia (4.1%) and Romania (3.8%).

The largest upward impacts to euro area annual inflation came from electricity (+0.17 percentage points), fruit and tobacco (+0.07 each), while telecommunications (-0.22), medical & paramedical services (-0.08) and garments (-0.07) had the biggest downward impacts.

In February the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices edged up to 115.93 from 115.89 in January.

In February, the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices went up marginally over the previous month. This primarily reflected an increase of 1.9 per cent in the Clothing and Footwear Index due to seasonally higher-priced garments. The Food and Non-alcoholic Beverages Index edged up by 0.4 per cent, mainly due to higher prices for fruit. A similar increase was registered in the Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco Index due to an upward movement in the price of wine. Higher prices for mobile phones resulted in a 0.2 per cent increase in the Communication Index. The Health Index edged up by 0.1 per cent on account of higher fees for medical and paramedical services. A similar movement was recorded in the Miscellaneous Goods and Services Index, mainly on account of higher fees charged by retirement homes.

The Transport Index went down by 0.7 per cent, mainly due to lower prices for new motor cars. Seasonally cheaper accommodation services resulted in a decrease of 0.3 per cent in the Restaurants and Hotels Index. The Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels Index went down by 0.2 per cent, mainly on account of lower gas prices.

Discounted book prices caused the Recreation and Culture Index to go down by 0.1 per cent.