Costlier restaurant services, cigarettes and furniture push up inflation

In April, the annual rate of inflation as measured by the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices stood at 0.5 per cent.

According to the National Statistics Office, the annual rate stood at 0.9 per cent last year.

The largest upward impacts on annual inflation were brought about by the Restaurants and Hotels Index (0.4 percentage points), Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco Index (0.3 percentage points), and the Furniture, Household Equipment and Routine Maintenance of the House Index (0.2 percentage points).

“This was mainly due to costlier restaurant services, cigarettes and furniture items respectively,” the NSO said.

The main downward impacts were recorded in Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels Index (-0.7 percentage points) and Clothing and Footwear (-0.2 percentage points), mainly due to lower electricity rates and prices of garments respectively.

The twelve-month moving average rate was 0.8 per cent.