Malta registers 3% annual inflation in August

In August 2010, the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices went up by 1.0 per cent over the previous month. This primarily reflected an increase of 5.4 per cent in the Restaurants and Hotels Index, due to costlier accommodation services.

An upward movement in the price of fish caused the Food and Non-alcoholic beverages Index to go up by 1.6 per cent.

The Miscellaneous Goods and Services Index registered a rise of 1.5 per cent due to higher fees for child-minding services.

Higher prices for household textiles and non-durable household goods resulted in a growth of 0.4 per cent in the Furniture, Household Equipment and Routine Maintenance of the House Index.

A similar rise was recorded in the Transport Index due to an increase in airfares. The Recreation and Culture Index went up by 0.3 per cent, mainly on account of higher-priced package holidays.

Higher fees for private tuition caused a 0.2 per cent increase in the Education Index. The Clothing and Footwear Index went down by 9.4 per cent due to a seasonal decrease in the price of garments.

Lower prices for gas caused the Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels Index to go down by 0.2 per cent. A similar drop was recorded in the Alcoholic beverages and Tobacco Index due to a decline in the prices of spirits.

Euro area annual inflation was 1.6% in August 2010, down from 1.7% in July. A year earlier the rate was -0.2%. Monthly inflation was 0.2% in August 2010.

EU annual inflation was 2.0% in August 2010, down from 2.1% in July. A year earlier the rate was 0.6%. Monthly inflation was 0.2% in August 2010.

In August 2010, the lowest annual rates were observed in Ireland (-1.2%), Latvia (-0.4%) and Germany (1.0%), and the highest in Romania (7.6%), Greece (5.6%) and Hungary (3.6%). Compared with July 2010, annual inflation rose in ten, remained stable in nine and fell in eight Member States.

The lowest 12-month averages up to August 2010 were registered in Ireland (-2.3%), Latvia (-2.0%), Portugal and Slovakia (both 0.3%), and the highest in Hungary and Romania (both 5.0%) and Greece (3.5%).

In the Euro area, the main components with the highest annual rates in August 2010 were alcohol & tobacco and transport (both 3.3%) and housing (2.6%), while the lowest annual rates were observed for communications (-0.5%), recreation & culture (-0.1%) and clothing (0.2%). Concerning the detailed sub-indices, fuels for transport (+0.31 percentage points), heating oil (+0.13) and vegetables (+0.08) had the largest upward impacts on the headline rate, while garments (-0.08) and telecommunications (-0.07) had the biggest downward impacts.

The main components with the highest monthly rates were clothing (1.8%), recreation & culture, hotels & restaurants and miscellaneous goods & services (0.3% each), while the lowest were food (-0.2%), health (-0.1%) and transport (0.0%). In particular, garments (+0.09 percentage points) had the largest upward impact, while fruit and fuels for transport (-0.04 each) had the biggest downward impacts.