The year-on-year growth was due to a rise of 2.68% in intermediate goods, 1.95% in capital goods and 1.43% in consumer goods. No price changes were registered in the energy sector.

Industrial producer prices for the domestic market went up by 0.98%. Price rises were recorded in capital goods (2.97%), consumer goods (1.51%) and intermediate goods (1.14%). No price changes took place in the energy sector. 

Non-domestic prices increased by 2.28% due to a rise of 2.71% within the non-euro area and 1.49% within the euro area.

In a month-on-month comparison, the producer price index decrease was due to a drop of 1.13% in intermediate goods while no changes were registered in the other sectors.

Prices within the domestic market dropped by 0.20% due to a decrease of 0.88% in the intermediate goods sector. 

Non-domestic prices declined also by 0.64% due to a drop of 0.82% within the non-euro area and 0.29% within the euro area. 

The full and complete report with charts and tables is available for download at the website of NSO. 

The post Malta’s industrial prices grow y.o.y. but drop m.o.m. in July first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

The largest share of guest nights was reported in four-star hotels, accounting for over 1.3m nights, some 48.3% of the total. 

The average length of stay went down to 4.8 nights from the average of 5 nights registered during the same quarter of 2018. The net use of bed-places stood at 73.6%, down by 1.3 percentage points.

In addition, there were 206 active collective accommodation establishments in June 2019 with a net capacity of 18,155 bedrooms and 41,680 bed-places on a national level. 

Gozo and Comino see drops

On a regional level, total guests in Malta numbered 547,084, up by 3.4% over the second quarter of 2018. However, a decrease of 1% was recorded in the number of nights spent. Total guests and nights spent in Gozo and Comino decreased by 0.7% and 9.5%, to 28,191 and 89,728 respectively.

The average length of stay went down by 0.2 night to 4.9 nights in Malta, while in Gozo and Comino it also decreased by 0.3 night to 3.2 nights, when compared with the same quarter of the previous year. The net occupancy rate in Malta decreased by 1pp to 74.9%, in Gozo and Comino it decreased by 5.9pp to 48.5%.

Total guests dropped to 947,485 during January-June, with a decrease of 0.8% over the same period in the previous year. Total nights spent went down by 4%, reaching nearly 4.5m. The net use of bed-places declined by 3.1 pp to 61%. 

The full and detailed report is available for download at the website of NSO.

The post More guests spend fewer nights in Q2 2019 first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

The highest annual inflation was recorded in the sectors of food (3.77%) and housing (2.11%) while the lowest was seen in the sectors of clothing and footwear (-1.24%) and household equipment and maintenance (-0.10%).

The largest upward impact was registered in the food index (+0.81pp), due to prices take-away food, followed by transport and communication (+0.34pp) and recreation and culture (+0.17pp). 

On the contrary, downward impacts were seen in the clothing and footwear index (-0.08pp) and the household equipment and maintenance costs index (-0.01pp), due to lower prices of garments and furniture.

The complete and more detailed report is available for download at the website of NSO

The post Malta’s retail price index drops to 1.68% in July first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

During the second quarter, the injuries suffered by three drivers and three passengers proved to be fatal while the number of road traffic fatalities were three less than those recorded during the same quarter in 2018. The total number of road traffic fatalities during the first six months this year amounted to seven.

The majority of the road traffic casualties (62.2%) involved passenger cars, followed by motorcycles (27.1%) and goods-carrying vehicles (5.7%). Road traffic casualties caused by collisions between vehicles were the most common with 74.8%.

The highest road traffic casualty and road traffic accident rates occurred on Thursdays with 66 casualties and 606 accidents. The time bracket during which most road traffic accidents occurred was between 12:00 and 14:59 with 841 cases, followed by the 09:00-11:59 bracket of time with 812 cases. The least number of accidents took place between 03:00 and 05:59 — during the night and early morning — registering 73 accidents. 

The Northern Harbour district registered the largest share of all road traffic accidents with 1,405 cases (36.8%) of all accidents. The highest number of road traffic accidents by locality was registered in Birkirkara with a total of 312. Ħal Qormi and St Paul’s Bay came after with 215 and 178, respectively. 

The full report with charts and tables is available for download from the official website of NSO.  

The post Traffic accidents drop by 0.5%, casualties by 10.4% in Q2 first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

The average gross household income for 2017 as derived from European Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) 2018 was estimated at €33,573, while the average disposable household income stood at €27,830.

The severe material deprivation rate (SMD) among individuals living in households was 3% in 2018. This figure is 0.3pp less than the same rate estimated on the basis of EU-SILC 2017. The two most influential variables contributing to this decrease were the ability of households to spend one week’s annual holiday away from home and the ability of households to face unexpected financial expenses. 

Furthermore, the at-risk-of-poverty or social exclusion rate (AROPE) decreased by 0.3pp to 19% in 2018, when compared to EU-SILC 2017. AROPE provides the share of people who are either at-risk-of-poverty, severely materially deprived or residing in a household with low work intensity (applicable only for people aged 0-59).

The EU-SILC survey is an annual enquiry conducted by the NSO among persons residing in private households in Malta and Gozo.

The post Malta’s poverty risk slightly grows to 16.8% in 2017 first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

A total of 233,139 inbound tourist trips were carried out for holiday purposes, while 18,204 were undertaken for business reasons.  

Furthermore, inbound tourists from Non-EU countries went up by 21.5% when compared to the corresponding month in 2018. Most of the tourists were from the age group of 25-44 (42.7%), while those of 45-64 represented 29.5%. The NSO latest figures show.   

Tourists spent 3.6% fewer nights in May, as compared to the same month of the preceding year. The largest share of guest nights (54.4%) was spent in collective accommodation establishments. 

In addition, the total expenditure of tourists was estimated at €203.5m, showing an increase of 3.3% over the corresponding month in 2018. 

January-May all up

Trips of inbound tourists amounted to 929,979 in May, with an increase of 2.8% over the same period in 2018. 

In this case, the total nights spent by inbound tourists went up by 1.6%, surpassing 5.9m nights.  

The expenditure was estimated at €648.1m, 3.2% higher than that recorded for 2018. Total expenditure per capita stood at €697, with an increase of 0.4% when compared to 2018. 

The full report including charts and visual representation of data is available for download at the website of NSO.

The post More tourists spend more money, less time in May first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.