The annual rate of inflation as measured by the Retail Price Index (RPI) in Malta dropped to 1.87% in May 2019, going down from 1.91% in the previous month, according to the figures published by the National Statistics Office (NSO).
The twelve-month moving average rate for May stood at a 1.54% rate, according to the NSO press release.
The NSO figures show also that the highest annual inflation was recorded in the sector of food (4.82%) and in housing (2.44%). The lowest inflation was registered in the clothing and footwear field (-1.61%) and water, electricity, gas and fuels (0.03%).
In addition, the largest upward impact on annual inflation in food was of 1.04 percentage points (pp), due to a price growth of take-away service.
The second and third largest impact was recorded in transports and communications, with 0.38pp and also housing (0.19pp), mainly because of higher costs of fuels and house maintenance services respectively, according to the NSO figures published.
Furthermore, the downward impact was registered in clothing and footwear, with 0.11, mainly caused by lower prices of footwear.
The full report including charts and visual representation of data is available for download at the website of NSO.