The Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices last month went down to 116.84
from 117.14 in June, the NSO said, a drop of 0.3 per cent.
The movement was caused primarily reflected by a drop of 12.1 per cent in the Clothing and Footwear Index on account of seasonal reductions. The Food and Non-alcoholic Beverages Index went down by 1.2 per cent as a result of lower fruit prices.
Cheaper materials for the maintenance and repair of dwellings caused the Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels Index to go down by 0.2 per cent. The Furniture, Household Equipment and Routine Maintenance of the House Index edged down by 0.1 per cent, mainly due to a reduction in the price of household textiles and non-durable goods.
A similar downward shift was recorded in the Health Index, mostly due to lower prices of pharmaceutical products, and in the Communication Index due to lower-priced mobile phones.
The Transport Index went up by 1.9 per cent, mainly on account of costlier air fares.
Seasonally higher prices for accommodation services caused the Restaurants and Hotels Index to go up by 1.6 per cent. Higher-priced package holidays were the main reason behind an increase of 1.1 per cent in the Recreation and Culture Index. The Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco Index went up by 0.4 per cent, mainly due to a small increase in the price of wine.
Inflation
In July, the twelve-month moving average rate of inflation stood at 2.8 per cent, whereas the annual rate of inflation stood at 2.2 per cent (from 3.1 per cent in the previous month).
In the EU, the lowest annual inflation rates were observed in Ireland (1.0%), Slovenia (1.1%) and Sweden (1.6%), and the highest in Estonia (5.3%), Romania (4.9%) and Lithuania (4.6%). Compared with June 2011, annual inflation fell in sixteen Member States, remained stable in two and rose in nine.
The lowest 12-month averages4 up to July 2011 were registered in Ireland (0.3%), Sweden (1.6%), the Czech Republic and the Netherlands (1.9% each), and the highest in Romania (7.6%), Estonia (4.9%) and Greece (4.3%).