Malta’s annual inflation rate of 2.1 per cent in October mirrored the average rate across the European Union, new figures released by Eurostat and the National Statistics Office show.

The EU average annual inflation rate stood at 2.2 per cent that month, up from 1.7 per cent a year earlier. Malta’s rate 12 months prior was 1.5 per cent. 

Malta’s 2.1 per cent rate was down from the previous month, when the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices had risen at a rate of 2.5 per cent. The HICP measures monthly price changes in the cost of purchasing a representative basket of consumer goods and services. 

Across the EU, the lowest annual rates were registered in Denmark (0.7%), Portugal (0.8%) and Ireland (1.1%). The highest annual rates were recorded in Estonia (4.5%), Romania (4.2%) and Hungary (3.9%). Compared with September 2018, annual inflation fell in eight Member States, remained stable in five and rose in fourteen.

In October 2018, the highest contribution to the annual euro area inflation rate came from energy (+1.02 percentage points, pp), followed by services (+0.65 pp), food, alcohol & tobacco (+0.42 pp) and non-energy industrial goods (+0.11 pp), Eurostat said.