In January the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices decreased to 103.28 from 103.69
in December 2007, the NSO said today.

"In line with the trend observed in recent years, in January 2008, the Harmonised Index
of Consumer Prices went down by 0.4 percent over the previous month," the National Statistics Office said.

It said this primarily reflected a decrease of 18.1 per cent in the Clothing and Footwear Index, mainly due to seasonal price reductions. Lower prices of sport accessories were the main factor
behind a 0.3 per cent drop in the Recreation and Culture Index.

The Furniture, Household Equipment and Routine Maintenance of the House Index registered a
decrease of 0.1 per cent, mainly on account of seasonal sales of household textiles.
The Communication Index went up by 3.0 percent. This was mainly brought about by
higher fees for services offered in the mobile telephony sector.

An increase of 2.5 percent was registered in the Restaurants and Hotels Index, mainly due to price increases
in accommodation services. Higher prices of fresh fruit and vegetables mainly underlay
a 0.6 per cent increase in the Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverage Index. The Education
Index registered an increase of 0.5 per cent on account of higher private tuition fees.

The Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels Index went up by 0.5 percent.
This increase primarily reflected higher prices of services related to the maintenance and repair of dwellings.

An increase of 0.4 percent was recorded in the Transport Index, mainly due to higher prices of motor cars. Price rises in tobacco, wine and beer mainly brought about a rise of 0.4 per cent in the Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco Index. Other slight increases were registered in the Miscellaneous Goods and Services and the Health indices.

In December, the twelve-month moving average rate of inflation stood at 0.9 per cent, whereas the annual rate stood at 3.8 percent.