NEWS | Wednesday, 18 June 2008

Inflation still above the 4 per cent mark during May: NSO

Charlot Zahra

In May the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) increased to 108.00 from 107.24 in April, an increase of 0.7 per cent over the previous month, the latest inflation figures issued by the National Statistics Office (NSO) on Monday showed.
However, if one takes the HICP figures on a year-to-year basis, inflation rose from 103.76 per cent in May 2007 to 108.00, an increase of 4.1 per cent over the previous year.
On a monthly basis, the largest increase war registered in the Restaurants and Hotels Index, with 2.0 per cent, due to price rises in accommodation services.
Next was the Clothing and Footwear Index, which registered an increase of 1.5 per cent over April 2008, due to “seasonal price rises in garments”.
In third position was the Recreation and Culture Index, which increased by 0.9 per cent over the previous month on account of higher prices of package holidays.
In May 2008, higher air fares caused the Transport Index to go up by 0.8 per cent when compared to the previous month. Likewise, an increase in the price of beer last month caused the Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco Index to shift up by 0.2 per cent over April 2008.
Finally, higher prices of kerosene and materials for the maintenance and repair of dwellings led during last month led to an increase of 0.1 per cent in the Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels Index over April 2008.
According to the NSO, the only HICP Division in which a decrease was registered in May 2008 was the Miscellaneous Goods and Services Index, with a decrease of 0.1 per cent over the previous month.
On an annual basis, the Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages Index registered an increase of 8.5 per cent when compared to May 2007, followed by the Restaurants and Hotels Index, which registered an increase of 6.7 per cent, and the Education Index registered an increase of 5.6 per cent.
In May 2008, the Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels Index registered an increase 4.2 per cent when compared to a year before, the Clothing and Footwear Index registered in increase of 3.6 per cent, while the Index for Transport registered an increase of 3.2 per cent.
Finally, the Communication Index registered an increase of 2.9 per cent last month when compared to year ago, the Alcoholic Beverages and tobacco section registered an increase of 1.4 per cent, the Miscellaneous Goods and Services Index registered an increase of 1.2 per cent, the Health Index registered an increase of 1.0 per cent, while the index for Furniture, Household Equipment and Routine Maintenance of the House registered an increase of 0.9 per cent.
The only HICP division which registered a decrease in inflation on an annual basis when compared to a year ago was Recreation and Culture, which registered a decrease of 0.6 per cent.
According to NSO, in May, the annual inflation rate stood at 4.1 per cent, the same as it was a month ago. This is the fourth consecutive month where the annual inflation rate has exceeded the 4 per cent mark.
In the last six-month period under examination, the annual inflation rate has exceeded the 3 per cent threshold set up by the European Commission (EC) as part of Malta’s criteria for joining the eurozone in January.
The twelve-month moving average rate of inflation, which calculates inflation over last 12 months starting from June 2007, stood at 2.3 per cent, an increase of 0.4 per cent over the previous month.
This is the first time in the past 15 months that the twelve-month moving average rate of inflation has reached the 2.3 per cent mark.

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