Malta’s inflation rate fourth lowest among euro area

In July, the annual inflation rate stood at 0.9% compared with the 1.6% registered within the euro area.

According to EuroStat, Malta's inflation rate is the fourth lowest amongst the euro area. Statistics provided by the National Statistics Office also show it is the lowest it has been for the past three years. In July 2010, inflation was at 2.5%, followed by 2.4% in July 2011 and 4.2% in July 2012.

Since January 2013, when it stood at 2.4%, inflation has decreased every month.

The National Statistics Office also reported Malta's harmonized index of consumer prices went up by 0.1% over the previous month.

This primarily reflected an increase of 1.2% in the Restaurants and Hotels Index, mainly due to seasonally higher prices for accommodation services. The Transport Index went up by 0.8%, mainly on account of higher airfares.

An upward movement in the price of wine brought about an increase of 0.6% in the Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco Index. Higher-priced mobile phones caused the Communication Index to rise by 0.3%.

The Recreation and Culture Index went up by 0.2%, mainly as a result of higher prices for books.

The Furniture, Household Equipment and Routine Maintenance of the House Index edged up by 0.1%, mainly due to an upward movement in the price of household appliances.

 A similar rise was registered in the Miscellaneous Goods and Services Index as a result of higher fees for certain financial services.

Seasonal reductions in the prices of garments underlay a drop of 5.1% in the Clothing and Footwear Index.

A decrease of 0.2% was recorded in the Food and Non-alcoholic Beverages Index, mainly as a result of lower vegetable prices.

Across the euro area, the largest upward impacts to annual inflation came from fruit (+0.12 percentage points), vegetables (+0.09) and tobacco (+0.08), while telecommunications (-0.18), medical & paramedical services (-0.08) and fuels for transport (-0.06) had the biggest downward impacts.