Inflation edges upwards in December

Malta’s annual rate of inflation edged slightly higher in December 2025, with the Retail Price Index (RPI) rising to 2.7 per cent, up from the 2.6 per cent recorded in November, according to the latest official data.

The 12-month moving average now stands at 2.4 per cent, well above the low of 1.5 per cent seen at the beginning of the year.

The highest annual inflation rates in December were registered in other goods and services at 5.3 per cent, followed by furnishings and household equipment at 4.1 per cent.

On the other hand, clothes prices declined by 1.5 per cent, while prices for water, electricity, gas and fuels remained unchanged as a result of the Government subsidies in effect since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Food prices continued to exert the strongest upward pressure on inflation, contributing 0.77 percentage points to the overall annual inflation rate, largely reflecting higher prices for take-away food.

This was followed by contributions from other goods and services (+0.39 percentage points) and furnishings and household equipment (+0.29 percentage points), mainly driven by increased prices for jewellery and household furnishings.

Partially offsetting these increases was a downward contribution from the clothing and footwear index, which reduced overall inflation by 0.10 percentage points, as a result of lower garment prices.

Within the other goods and services category, jewellery, watches and related articles recorded a sharp annual increase of 23.5 per cent. Other notable increases were registered in non-durable household goods (2.2 per cent), veterinary services including pet food and domestic services (1.8 per cent), as well as insurance, financial and other services (2.3 per cent).

Meanwhile, the decline in the clothing and footwear category was driven by a 2.0 per cent drop in clothing prices, while footwear prices rose modestly by 0.7 per cent.