Annual rate of inflation remains at constant 1.5% - NSO

In November 2017, the annual rate of inflation as measured by the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) remained at a constant rate of 1.5 per cent, the National Statistics Office said yesterday.

The twelve-month moving average rate for November stood at a rate of 1.2 per cent.

The largest upward impact on annual inflation was recorded in the Food and Non-alcoholic Beverages Index (0.37 percentage points), mainly reflecting higher prices of confectionery goods. The largest downward impact was recorded in the Clothing and Footwear Index (0.19 percentage points), attributed to lower prices of garments.

In October 2017, the annual rate of change for Malta as measured by the HICP was 0.1 percentage points higher than that registered for the euro area.

In the meantime Eurostat data showed that the annual inflation rate in Malta was the ninth lowest in the EU and the same as the Euro area average.

Euro area annual inflation was 1.5% in November 2017, up from 1.4% in October. In November 2016, the rate was 0.6%. European Union annual inflation was 1.8% in November 2017, up from 1.7% in October. A year earlier the rate was 0.6%.

The lowest annual rates were registered in Cyprus (0.2%), Ireland (0.5%) and Finland (0.9%). The highest annual rates were recorded in Estonia (4.5%), Lithuania (4.2%) and the United Kingdom (3.1%). Compared with October 2017, annual inflation fell in four Member States, remained stable in nine and rose in fifteen.

The largest upward impacts to the euro area annual inflation came from fuels for transport (+0.21 percentage points), heating oil (+0.07 pp) and milk, cheese & eggs (+0.05 pp), while telecommunication (-0.11 pp), garments (-0.07 pp) and social protection (-0.04 pp) had the biggest downward impacts.