Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP): July 2023

Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP): July 2023

In July 2023, the annual rate of inflation as measured by the HICP was 5.6 per cent, down from 6.2 per cent in June 2023.

Price changes and effects on inflation

The highest annual inflation rates in July 2023 were recorded in Food and non-alcoholic beverages (10.0 per cent), and Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (7.6 per cent). On the other hand, the lowest annual inflation rates were registered in Communication (-1.4 per cent) and Clothing and footwear (-0.7 per cent) (Table 1).

Chart 2 depicts the impact on the annual inflation rate by the 12 ECOICOP main divisions. An impact is a measure showing the change in inflation as a result of the inclusion of an index. Such an impact takes into account both the weight and the annual rate of inflation by division.

In July 2023, the largest upward impact on annual inflation was registered in the Food and non-alcoholic beverages Index (+1.69 percentage points), largely due to higher prices of bakery products. The second and third largest impacts were measured in the Restaurants and hotels Index (+1.37 percentage points) and the Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels Index (+0.73 percentage points), mainly on account of higher prices of restaurant services and rents, respectively (Chart 2).

The downward impacts on annual inflation were registered in the Communication Index (-0.06 percentage points) and the Clothing and footwear Index (-0.03 percentage points), mainly reflecting lower prices of telephone equipment and garments, respectively (Chart 2).

Note: A percentage point is the arithmetic difference between two percentages.

HICP (Malta and euro area)

This section compares the Maltese HICP with the latest data available for the euro area. In July 2023, the annual rate of change recorded by the Maltese All-items HICP was 5.6 per cent, 0.3 percentage points higher than the figure for the euro area, which stood at 5.3¹ per cent (Chart 3).

¹ The last data point available for the euro area is a flash estimate, which is still provisional.
Source: NSO and Eurostat.