Inflation in Malta surpasses 6% but remains lowest in EU

Inflation was up 6.1% in June when compared to the same month last year, figures released by the National Statistics Office show.

Annual inflation in June as measured by the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP), continued the upward trend of recent months. In May, annual inflation stood at 5.8%.

However, inflation in Malta remained the lowest in the EU, according to figures released on the same day by Eurostat, the EU statistics agency. The euro area average inflation in June stood at 8.6%, while across all EU27 countries the average stood at 9.6%.

Food prices were the main driver yet again behind the June increase. Annual inflation in the food and non-alcoholic beverage index increased by 1.7 points, followed by restaurant and hotel prices that increased by 1.1 points.

The only downward impact was registered in the communication index, which decreased by less than 0.1 points.

The HICP is the instrument used to measure inflation across the EU, allowing comparisons to be made between the different countries. Although similar to the Retail Price Index (RPI) used locally as a measure to set wage increases, the HICP’s composition is different. HICP has been used by the European Central Bank (ECB) as the measure of price stability across the euro area.

The 12-month moving average rate for June stood at 3.1%, the highest it has ever been in three years.