The latest Eurostat figures for inflation in the European Union (EU) and in the 13-nation Euro area published yesterday show that Malta’s annual inflation rate for September was the lowest among all 27 EU Member States.
Malta’s annual inflation rate in September was 0.9%, up from 0.6% in August.
The average EU annual inflation rate was 2.2% in September, up from 1.9% in August. In September 2006 the average EU annual inflation rate was 1.9%.
The average annual inflation rate in the Eurozone was 2.1% in September, up from 1.7% in August. In September 2006 the average EU annual inflation rate was 1.7%.
In September, the lowest annual rates were observed in Malta (0.9%), Denmark (1.2%) and the Netherlands (1.3%), and the highest rates in Latvia (11.5%), Bulgaria (11.0%) and Estonia (7.5%).
Compared with August, the latest Eurostat figures show that annual inflation rose in twenty-four Member States, remained stable in one and fell in one.
The lowest 12-month averages up to September 2007 were in Malta (0.4%), France and Finland (both 1.4%); the highest were in Latvia (8.2%), Hungary (7.8%) and Bulgaria (6.2%).
In the Euro area, the main components with the highest annual inflation rates in September were education; alcohol and tobacco; and hotels and restaurants, while the lowest annual rates were observed for communications; recreation and culture; and clothing.
An analysis of the detailed sub-indices for the Euro area shows that fuels for transport; restaurants and cafés; and tobacco had the largest upward impacts on the headline rate, while telecommunications; audio-visual equipment; and IT equipment had the biggest downward impacts.