Malta’s Inflation Rate Rising, But Still The Lowest In Europe

Malta had the lowest annual inflation rate in the EU last month, according to data released by Eurostat.

‘Inflation’ measures how much more expensive a set of goods and services has become over a certain period, in this case, a year.

Countries across the European front have seen a steady increase in annual inflation rates, including Malta. Yet, when compared with other European countries, Malta still scored the lowest.

Conversely, the highest annual rates were recorded in Estonia (12%), Lithuania (10.7%), and Poland (8%).

The EU recorded a jump from 0.3 % (December 2020) to 5.3 % (December 2021), whereas Malta recorded a rise from 0.2 % to 2.6 % in the same timeframe.

In December, and in the euro area alone, the highest contribution to the annual inflation rate came from energy (+2.46 percentage points, pp), followed by services (+1.02 pp), non-energy industrial goods (+0.78 pp), and food, alcohol & tobacco (+0.71 pp).

In Malta, the largest upward impact on annual inflation was registered in the food and non-alcoholic beverages index (+0.90 percentage points), largely due to higher prices of vegetables.

The second and third largest impacts were measured in the restaurants and hotels Index (+0.52 percentage points) and the recreation and culture Index (+0.39 percentage points), mainly on account of higher prices of restaurant services and pet food respectively.

The findings could be suggestive of a cultural shift wrought by the pandemic. But questions still remain as to whether this could change in the coming weeks, with more persons seeking the COVID-19 booster.

Do you think inflation will continue to rise, in Malta?