Inflation starting to bite

EU figures published yesterday in Brussels show that the cost of living in Malta is rising steadily, with inflation reaching the four per cent mark in February, the highest level over the last 12 months.

According to Eurostat, the inflation rate in February was almost one per cent higher than in December.

In February last year, when Malta was still trying to achieve the Maastricht eurozone entry criteria, inflation stood at an all-time low of 0.8 per cent. This February, inflation was 0.7 per cent higher than the 3.3 average in the euro area.

The lowest annual inflation rates in the EU were observed in the Netherlands (two per cent), Germany, Portugal and Sweden (2.9 per cent each) and the highest in Latvia (16.5 per cent), Bulgaria (12.2 per cent) and Estonia (11.5 per cent).

All of the EU seems to be feeling the pinch of the high international prices of oil and cereals.

Eurostat said that in the euro area, the main components with the highest annual rates this February were education (9.7 per cent), food (5.8 per cent) and transport (5.4 per cent) while the lowest were observed for communications (-3.1 per cent), recreation and culture and clothing.

The detailed sub-indices shows a rapid increase on a month-on-month basis particularly in fuels for transport (+0.5 percentage points), milk, cheese and eggs (+0.23), heating oil (+0.21) and bread and cereals (+0.14).

Ivan Camilleri in Brussels