Maltese consumer goods and services price levels below EU average

Price levels for consumer goods and services differ widely among EU Member States, according to Eurostat, with Maltese price levels 17.7% below the EU average in 2017.

Denmark and Luxembourg had the highest price levels in 2017 (both 41 % above the EU average), followed by Sweden (35 % above), Ireland (28 % above), Finland (23 % above) and the United Kingdom (17 % above), while the lowest price levels were recorded in Bulgaria (56 % below the EU average), Romania (52 % below), Poland (47 % below), Hungary (42 % below) and Lithuania (40 % below).

At a more detailed level, Denmark was the most expensive Member State in 2017 for "restaurants and hotels" (51 % above the EU average), "food" (50 % above), "recreation and culture" (48 % above), "transport (28 % above) and "household equipment" (20 % above). Ireland was the most expensive Member State for "alcoholic beverages and tobacco" (74 % above), Luxembourg for "housing, water, electricity and gas" (63 % above), Greece for "communications" (54 % above) and Sweden for "clothing and footwear" (34 % above).

With regards to detailed Maltese price levels in 2017, levels for ‘food and non-alcoholic beverages’ were 10% higher than the EU average. Maltese price levels in 2017 were 0.4% higher for ‘alcoholic beverages and tobacco’, 1.2% higher for ‘furnishings and household equipment’ and lower than the EU average in all other categories, including for ‘clothing and footwear’, Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels’, ‘health’, ‘transport’, ‘communications’, ‘recreation and culture’, ‘education’ and ‘restaurants and hotels’