Consumer price inflation reached 2.1 per cent in July when compared to the same month the previous year, new data released on Friday by the National Statistics Office has shown.

The Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices, which measures monthly price changes in the cost of purchasing a representative basket of goods and services, rose by 0.1 percentage points when compared to June.

When the 12-month HICP moving average is calculated, price inflation stood at 1.5 per cent.

Restaurant and hotel costs saw the largest increases in July, with inflation hitting 4.4 per cent. Furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance was also costlier, with inflation at 2.6 per cent.

On the other hand, the relative cost of buying clothing and footwear fell by 3.6 per cent, with recreation and culture inflation also dipping by 1 per cent.

In June, Malta’s annual rate of change registered by the HICP was 2 per cent, which was in line with the rate across the eurozone. When energy and unprocessed food is excluded, the rate was 2.2 per cent – one percentage point higher than the eurozone’s.

Eurostat data shows that inflation is rising across the eurozone as a whole, with an annual rate of 2.1 per cent in July, up from 1.3 per cent in the same month last year.

The lowest annual rates were registered in Greece (0.8 per cent), Denmark (0.9 per cent) and Ireland (1.0 per cent). The highest annual rates were recorded in Romania (4.3 per cent), Bulgaria (3.6 per cent), Hungary (3.4 per cent) and Estonia (3.3 per cent).

Compared with June 2018, annual inflation fell in nine member states, remained stable in six and rose in 13.