Prices down in second highest fall from September

Malta went into deflation mode last month, registering the second highest fall in prices in the eurozone compared to September, at -0.4 per cent.

Only Finland's deflation was higher, at a month-on-month rate of -0.5 per cent, according to the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices issued in Brussels.

Meanwhile, prices in the euro area started to climb again by 0.2 per cent, a further indication that the 16-member eurozone countries are slowly coming out of the global recession.

Malta still had a high inflation rate on a 12-month average basis. At 2.7 per cent in October, it was the highest in the euro area where the average stood at 0.5 per cent.

The lowest annual rates were observed in Ireland (-2.8 per cent), Estonia (-2.1 per cent) and Portugal (-1.6 per cent) and the highest in Romania (4.3 per cent), Hungary (4.2 per cent) and Poland (3.8 per cent).

Compared with September, annual inflation fell in 11 member states and rose in 15.

According to figures released by the National Statistics Office, prices in Malta have fallen in the communications industry by 5.1 per cent over the past year due to lower mobile phone rates, as did prices in transport by 5.6 per cent.

A sizeable increase of 8.6 per cent, however, was registered in the price of education compared to 1.5 per cent in the eurozone. Healthcare also rose by 4.9 per cent compared to the eurozone rate of 1.1 per cent. Food prices in the euro area fell by 1.5 per cent, whereas in Malta they grew by 1.4 per cent.