Malta’s inflation rate edges lower in May

Malta’s annual inflation rate decreased marginally in May 2024, going down to 1.5 per cent from the previous month’s 1.6 per cent.

The figure is based on the Retail Price Index (RPI), one of two calculations for inflation used in Malta. The RPI is the basis on which the cost of living adjustment (COLA) is calculated at the end of the year.

Year-on-year prices increased most significantly in the non-durable household goods (8.8 per cent) and rent (8.3 per cent) categories. However, both of these segments carry a relatively low weighting (1.72 per cent and 1.08 per cent, respectively).

The price of food from restaurants and take-aways also registered a major increase of their year-ago levels, rising by six per cent. With a weighting of 5.89 per cent, this category has more of an impact on the RPI despite the more moderate increase in price when compared to non-durable household goods and rent.

The lowest annual inflation rates were registered in transport and communication (-2.3 per cent) and clothing and footwear (-0.5 per cent).

In May 2024, the largest upward contribution on the overall annual inflation was registered in the food Index (+0.78 percentage points), largely due to higher prices of take-aways.

The second and third largest contributions were measured in the other goods and services index (+0.37 percentage points) and the personal care and health Index (+0.32 percentage points), mainly on account of higher prices of insurances and articles of personal hygiene, respectively.

The downward contributions on the overall annual inflation were registered in the transport and communication index (-0.51 percentage points) and the clothing and footwear index (-0.03 percentage points), mainly reflecting lower prices of mobile phone services and garments, respectively.

Aggregates

In May 2024, the other goods and services Index registered the highest annual inflation rate at 5.1 per cent, of which jewellery, watches and other articles registered an annual rate of 1.7 per cent, non-durable household goods registered an annual rate of 8.8 per cent, veterinary services (including pet food) and domestic services registered an annual rate of 1.5 per cent and insurances, financial services and other services registered an annual rate of six per cent.

The transport and communication index registered the lowest annual inflation rate of -2.3 per cent, of which transport registered an annual rate of -0.6 per cent and communication registered an annual rate of -8.1 per cent.