Maltese least impacted by inflation

The Maltese were the least likely among respondents in 19 eurozone member states to think that inflation in 2022 was higher than 2021.

While 41% believe that inflation was higher this year than last, a staggering 34% believed that inflation had remained the same, while surprisingly a fifth believe that inflation was lower.

The majority’s perception that the inflation rate was not higher this year compared to previous year reflects the stability in energy prices in Malta with inflation mostly impacting food prices, as had already happened in 2021.

Back in October 2021 36% of the Maltese believed that inflation was higher than in 2020 compared to 67% of all inhabitants of the Eurozone.

The survey recently published by the European Commission’s Eurobarometer was carried out in October.

In the whole European Union eight in ten citizens (79%) believe this year’s inflation rate was higher than last year’s.

This represents a 12 percentage-point increase over the proportion of respondents who back in October 2021 had believed that inflation was higher than in the previous year.

The percentage of respondents who believed that this year’s inflation was higher than in the previous year was the highest proportion observed since 2008.

The perception that the inflation rate was higher this year compared to last year is shared by n absolute majority of respondents in all euro-area countries, except in Luxembourg (47%) and Malta (41%). Excluding these two countries, the proportion expecting higher inflation ranges from 54% in Portugal to 91% in Finland.

The inhabitants of Luxembourg were the most likely to believe that prices in 2022 were even lower than in 2021 (27%) followed by the Maltese (20%).  But this view was only shared by 7% of Eurozone inhabitants.

The survey also shows that 57% of the Maltese claim that their household income has remained the same in the past year while the rest were equally split between those whose income decreased (22%) and those whose income increased (21%).  On this aspect Malta followed the same pattern of the Eurozone.

But the Maltese are more optimistic than other Eurozone inhabitants. While 29% of the Maltese expect their income to increase in 2023 only 23% of respondents living in the whole Eurozone have the same expectation.