The largest upward impact was measured in restaurants and hotels (0.57 pp), due to higher costs of restaurant services, while the largest downward impact was recorded in education (0.09 pp).

The highest annual inflation rates were recorded in food and non-alcoholic beverages (3.2%) and miscellaneous goods and services (2.8%).

The lowest annual inflation was registered in education (-4.6%) and clothing and footwear (-1.6%)

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

The post Malta’s HICP growth remains 1.8% in July first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

The central bank believes that growth in private consumption and government expenditure is expected to “remain robust” while investment is expected to recover from the contraction recorded in 2018.

During the projection horizon, GDP growth will be supported by domestic demand, mainly reflecting “robust” growth in private consumption and investment. 

The net export contribution to growth is expected to be negative in 2019 and 2020, reflecting the weak international environment, and a pickup in import growth as a result of strong domestic demand. The contribution of net exports should turn positive in 2021, reflecting faster export growth, according to the press release.  

Furthermore, the pace of job creation is set to moderate while the labour market is expected to remain tight, with the unemployment rate projected at 3.8% by 2021. 

Annual inflation, based on the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP), is projected to ease slightly in 2019, before edging up to 1.9% by 2021, reflecting a pick-up in services and non-energy industrial goods inflation (NEIG). 

Moreover, the government balance is expected to remain in surplus over the coming years, such that the debt-to-GDP ratio is projected to decline to below 40% by 2021. 

The external environment poses downside risks to the projections of economic activity and inflation while domestic risks remain largely on the upside in the medium-term.

The risks to public finances are broadly balanced due to a possible slowing down in the implementation of investment projects that could be offset by higher current expenditure.

The post CBM envisages 4.4% economic growth in 2019-2021 in Malta first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

The largest upward impact on annual inflation was measured in the food and non-alcoholic beverages sector (3.7%) and in miscellaneous goods and services (2.5%).

On the contrary, the largest downward impact was recorded in the education (-4.6%) and furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance (0.1%).

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

The post Malta’s consumer prices grow 1.8% in June first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

The largest upward impact on annual inflation was measured in the food and non-alcoholic beverages index with 0.67 percentage points (pp), due to higher prices of vegetables.

After that, the index of restaurants and hotels saw an increase of 0.59 percentage points. In addition, housing, electricity, gas and other fuels index rose up by 0.18pp.

The largest downward impact was recorded in the education index with a decrease of 0.09pp. Clothing and footwear 0.02pp.

The furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance index and the clothing and footwear index dropped by 0.01pp, respectively.

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

The post Malta’s inflation remains 1.7% in May first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.