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.

The maximum temperature measured in July peaked at 39.6°C on 9 July in the midst of a heatwave reaching the Maltese Islands. The lowest temperature of 21°C was measured on both 5 and 20 July, however, the sea temperature was one centigrade warmer than the climate norm, reaching 26.4°C.

Sunshine hours of 368.3 surpassed the climate norm by 4.2 hours in July, due to the mean total cloud cover falling below the average to 0.8 oktas — a unit used in expressing the extent of cloud cover, equal to one-eighth of the sky. While July registered a mean of 11.9 hours of sunshine daily, the brightest day was July 4th when a total of 13.1 hours of sunshine were recorded.

Despite the spike in temperatures, July was not as dry as expected, with 0.8mm of precipitation being recorded throughout the month by the Met Office. July was also slightly windier than expected, exceeding the climate norm of 6.8 knots (12.5 kph) by 0.6 knots (1.1 kph).

The post June’s record heat carries on to July first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.