The annual rate of inflation went down in Malta last month although it was still well above the EU average.
The National Statistics Office said inflation in Malta as measured by the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices went down to 0.8 per cent, from 1.0 per cent registered in March. In the euro area it was -0.2%. (See below)
On a monthly basis, the inflation rate was 2.6 per cent, up from 1.0 per cent registered in March 2016.
The largest upward impacts on annual inflation were registered in the Restaurants and Hotels Index (0.38 percentage points), the Furniture, Household Equipment and Routine Maintenance of the House Index (0.23 percentage points) and the Food and Non-alcoholic Beverages Index (0.22 percentage points). These were mainly due to higher prices of restaurant services (including cafeterias and the like), household appliances and an increase in the price of meat and fruit (Table 5).
The Transport Index (0.22 percentage points), the Clothing and Footwear Index (0.14 percentage points) and the Recreation and Culture Index (0.13 percentage points) registered the largest downward impacts on annual infl ation, mainly refl ecting lower prices in fuel, garments and package holidays respectively.
The 12-month moving average rate was 1.2 per cent.
Meanwhile, Eurostat said the Euro area annual inflation was -0.2% in April 2016, down from 0.0% in March. In April 2015 the rate was 0.0%. European Union annual inflation was also -0.2% in April 2016, down from 0.0% in March. A year earlier the rate was 0.0%.
In April 2016, negative annual rates were observed in 17 Member States. The lowest annual rates were registered in Romania (-2.6%), Bulgaria (-2.5%) and Cyprus (-2.1%). The highest annual rates were recorded in Belgium (1.5%) and Sweden (1.0%). Malta came next.
Compared with March 2016, annual inflation fell in 13 Member States, remained stable in seven and rose in eight.
The largest upward impacts to euro area annual inflation came from restaurants & cafés (+0.13 percentage points), rents (+0.08 pp) and tobacco (+0.05 pp), while fuels for transport (-0.54 pp), heating oil (-0.22 pp) and gas (-0.13 pp) had the biggest downward impacts.