Inflation swells to 4.4 per cent

Malta's rate of inflation continued to spiral over the past month reaching 4.4 per cent.

According to data issued by Eurostat, Malta's inflation grew by 0.3 per cent over May and is now 0.4 per cent higher than the average in the euro area. The average inflation in the eurozone also hit record levels at four per cent.

The high price of oil and food has again contributed towards higher inflation.

The main components with the highest annual rates were transport (7.1 per cent), food (6.4 per cent) and housing (6.1 per cent).

Sub-indices show that higher prices for fuels for transport (+0.69 percentage points), heating oil (+0.40) and milk, cheese and eggs (+0.21) had the largest impacts. Malta has the seventh highest rate of inflation among the 15 member states in the eurozone.

Comparing the 27 member states, the lowest annual rates were observed in the Netherlands (2.3 per cent), Germany and Portugal (3.4 per cent each) and the highest in Latvia (17.5 per cent), Bulgaria (14.7 per cent) and Lithuania (12.7 per cent).

Compared with last May, annual inflation rose in 21 member states, remained stable in three and fell in three.

Meanwhile, the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices in Malta rose to 108.55 last month from 108 in May, the National Statistics Office said yesterday.

This primarily reflected an increase of 2.5 per cent in the transport index due to price rises in fuels.

The restaurants and hotels index registered an additional 1.2 per cent due to seasonal price hikes in accommodation services. The health index went up by 0.4 per cent, mainly on account of higher prices of medical and paramedical services. More expensive garments caused the clothing index to go up by 0.3 per cent.

Dearer tools and equipment used for the repair and maintenance of dwellings rose by 0.2 per cent in the furniture, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house index. Higher prices of stationery goods led to an upward shift in the recreation and culture index, by 0.1 per cent. A rise in the price of kerosene caused the housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels index to climb by 0.1 per cent.

The food and non-alcoholic beverages index slipped by 0.7 per cent, mainly on account of seasonal price reductions of fruits and vegetables.

A drop of 0.1 per cent was recorded in the miscellaneous goods and services because of cheaper luggage and other travel accessories.