It-tibdil fil-prezzijiet u l-effetti tiegħu fuq l-inflazzjoni
FʼĠunju 2023, l-ogħla rati taʼ inflazzjoni kienu rreġistrati fl-Ikel u x-xorb mhux alkoħoliku (11.8 fil-mija) u fl-Akkomodazzjoni, ilma, elettriku, gass u tipi taʼ karburanti oħrajn (7.6 fil-mija). Min-naħa l-oħra, l-inqas rati annwali tal-inflazzjoni kienu rreġistrati fl-Ilbies u x-xedd tas-saqajn (0.5 fil-mija) u fil-Komunikazzjoni (1.0 fil-mija) (Tabella nru 1).
Ċart nru 1. Rati taʼ inflazzjoni
No Data Found
Ċart nru 2 turi l-impatt irreġistrat fit-tnax-il taqsima tal-ECOICOP fuq ir-rata annwali tal-inflazzjoni. Impatt huwa kejl li jindika l-kontribuzzjoni fuq l-inflazzjoni għal kull taqsima. L-impatt jikkunsidra kemm il-piżijiet tal-indiċijiet armonizzati kif ukoll ir-rata annwali tal-inflazzjoni skont it-taqsima.
FʼĠunju tal-2023, l-akbar impatt pożittiv fuq l-inflazzjoni annwali ġie mill-Indiċi tal-Ikel u x-xorb mhux alkoħoliku (+1.99 punti perċentwali), l-aktar minħabba prezzijiet ogħla tal-prodotti tal-ħalib. It-tieni u t-tielet l-akbar impatti pożittivi fuq l-inflazzjoni ġew innotati fl-Indiċi tar-Ristoranti u lukandi (+1.24 punti perċentwali) u fl-Indiċi tal-Akkomodazzjoni, ilma, elettriku, gass u tipi taʼ karburanti oħrajn (+0.73 punti perċentwali), l-aktar minħabba prezzijiet ogħla fis-servizzi tar-ristoranti u fis-servizzi tal-manutenzjoni tad-dar, rispettivament (Ċart nru 2).
Min-naħa l-oħra, ma kien hemm l-ebda impatt negattiv fuq ir-rata annwali tal-inflazzjoni fix-xahar taʼ Ġunju (Ċart nru 2).
Ċart nru 2. Il-kontribut tat-tnax-il taqsima ewlenija tal-ECOICOP għar-rata annwali tal-inflazzjoni
Ġunju 2023
No Data Found
Nota: Punt perċentwali huwa d-differenza aritmetika bejn żewġ persentaġġi.
L-HICP (Malta u ż-żona tal-ewro)
Din is-sezzjoni tikkumpara l-indiċi armonizzat tal-prezzijiet tal-konsumatur għal Malta mal-aħħar ċifri taż-żona tal-ewro. F’Ġunju, ir-rata annwali għal Malta kienet ta’ 6.2 fil-mija, 0.7 punti perċentwali iżjed mir-rata ta’ 5.51 fil-mija rreġistrata fiż-żona tal-ewro (Ċart nru 3).
Ċart nru 3. It-taqsimiet kollha tal-HICP f’Malta u fiż-żona tal-ewro
No Data Found
¹ L-aħħar data disponibbli għaż-żona tal-ewro hija stima, li tkun għadha proviżorja.
Sors: NSO u Eurostat.
Additional Tables and Charts
Methodological Notes
1. Accessing data
HICP and RPI NSO news releases may be accessed from the Prices dedicated page.
Eurostat news releases on HICP may be accessed from Eurostat’s website.
2. Overview
The HICP measures monthly price changes in the cost of purchasing a representative basket of consumer goods and services. The HICP is calculated according to rules specified in a series of European Union (EU) regulations that were developed by Eurostat in conjunction with the EU Member States. The HICP is used to compare inflation rates across the EU. A closely related measure of price movements is the Retail Price Index (RPI). A description of the differences between the HICP and the RPI can be found in methodological note 3 of this news release.
Each monthly HICP news release includes three different measures of inflation:
i. The annual inflation rate measures average price changes between the reference month and the same month of the previous year. Although responsive to recent changes in price levels, this measure can be influenced by one-off effects in either month.
ii. The monthly inflation rate compares price changes between the reference month and the previous month. This measure can be highly influenced by seasonal effects.
iii. The 12-month moving average rate overcomes the volatility of the above two rates by comparing the average of the latest 12 indices to the average of the previous 12 indices. This measure is less sensitive to temporary changes in prices.
3. Differences between HICP and RPI
Both indices are compiled using a large and representative selection of more than 480 different goods and services for which price movements are regularly monitored. More than 18,000 separate price quotations are used each month to compile the Index.
The methodology underlying HICP and RPI is similar, yet they differ by the following:
i. The HICP covers private households, institutional households (such as retirement homes) and foreign visitors to Malta, whereas the RPI captures private households only.
ii. The population base year of the two indices is different. The HICP is a chain-linked index with the weights reviewed on an annual basis. On the other hand, the RPI is a fixed base index with weights periodically updated in line with the Household Budgetary Survey. Unlike the RPI, where the sample of goods and services changes every time the weights are updated, newly significant goods and services can be introduced in the HICP framework on an annual basis.
iii. The coverage of the HICP is based on an international classification system, ECOICOP (European Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose), whereas the RPI has a different set of codes for each group of items, as explained in the table below.
Apart from the disparities identified above, both the HICP and the RPI:
- have the same geographic coverage, implying that both indices refer to the whole country;
- utilise the same price collection methodologies; and,
- utilise the same outlet sample (with some exceptions).
| ECOICOP division | Weight (out of 1000) |
RPI group | Weight (out of 100) |
||
| 1 | Food and non-alcoholic beverages | 177.20 | 1 | Food (including restaurant services and take-aways) | 21.49 |
| 2 | Alcoholic beverages and tobacco | 36.31 | 2 | Beverages and tobacco | 5.56 |
| 3 | Clothing and footwear | 41.96 | 3 | Clothing and footwear | 6.62 |
| 4 | Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels | 100.94 | 4 | Housing | 7.90 |
| 5 | Furniture, household equipment and routine household maintenance | 84.51 | 5 | Water, electricity, gas and fuels | 3.31 |
| 6 | Health | 47.64 | 6 | Furnishing and household equipment | 6.97 |
| 7 | Transport | 124.53 | 7 | Transport and communication | 22.10 |
| 8 | Communication | 39.92 | 8 | Personal care and health | 8.81 |
| 9 | Recreation and culture | 85.01 | 9 | Recreation and culture (including education) | 9.90 |
| 10 | Education | 26.81 | 10 | Other goods and services | 7.34 |
| 11 | Restaurants and hotels | 155.71 | |||
| 12 | Miscellaneous goods and services | 79.46 | |||
| Total | 1,000 | Total | 100 |
4. Explaining Divergences between HICP and RPI Inflation
The HICP and RPI price indices bear several similarities and often produce similar inflation estimates. However, in some cases, inherent methodological differences between the two indices, particularly differences in the consumption basket and in the weights given to these products, cause the inflation rates reported by these two measures to diverge.
5. Further information
The HICP is used to compare inflation rates across the EU. It has been used by the European Central Bank (ECB) as the measure of price stability across the euro area since January 1999. Indeed, the HICP was developed in the EU for the purpose of assessing whether prospective members of the European Monetary Union would meet the inflation convergence criterion, later acting as the measure of inflation used by the ECB to assess price stability in the euro area. The main requirement was for a measure that could be used to make reliable comparisons of inflation rates across EU Member States. Such comparisons are not possible using national consumer price indices due to differences in index coverage and construction.
The HICP is published with 2015 as its base year. The previous series with reference 2005=100 has been discontinued. Commission Regulation (EU) No 2015/2010 provides the legal basis for updating the HICP reference year from 2005=100 to 2015=100. It should be noted that the re-basing operation was conducted after rounding all past indices to one decimal place. Therefore, there might be slight differences when comparing this series with past data due to rounding.
The HICP largely follows National Accounts (NA) concepts of what constitutes household consumption in determining the index scope and mainly uses NA data sources to weight the items in the basket. This makes for increased coherence between the HICP commodity and population coverage and NA principles. As a result, HICP weights are based on the final consumption expenditure of all individuals in the domestic territory, including spending by private households, institutional households and foreign visitors. NA principles have also influenced the classification of goods and services within this index. The basket of consumption items considered for the HICP is reviewed annually in line with NA data collected over a 12-month period in order to obtain an estimate of the average household expenditure. New products are included in the basket of items when achieving a sales volume of over one part per thousand of total consumer expenditure covered by the HICP.
The HICP weighting scheme is annually updated in accordance with Commission Regulation (EU) No 1114/2010. The treatment of seasonal items is in accordance with Commission Regulation (EC) No 330/2009.
The HICP Flash Estimates started being compiled and transmitted to Eurostat on a monthly basis as from January 2017. These refer to tentative HICP indices and are used to provide an insight to users about the annual rates of special aggregates as determined by Eurostat. Eurostat collects data from all European Member States and compiles annual rates of special aggregates for the entire euro area.
Users are advised to consult the NSO before comparing the results of the HICP and the RPI.
More information on the metadata underlying HICP and RPI news releases may be accessed from:
ECOICOP division classification
ECB digital publication on inflation
References to this news release are to be cited appropriately.
The euro area mentioned in Section 4 refers to EA11-1999, EA12-2001, EA13-2007, EA15-2008, EA16-2009, EA17- 2011, EA18-2014, EA19-2015, EA20-2023.
6. Publication Policy
A calendar for upcoming news releases is available online.
7. Weights
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, consumer spending patterns have changed. To capture this, the HICP weights for 2023 were compiled using preliminary quarterly consumer expenditure data for 2022 from the NA, complemented with additional data for 2022 from other sources, such as short-term statistics on retail trade and services.
The HICP weights for 2023 show that, compared to the previous year, the divisions to witness the highest increase in weight in absolute terms were Restaurants and hotels and Recreation and culture, while Miscellaneous goods and services and Furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance registered the largest decline in weight.
8. Reassessments / revisions
The HICP series is published with base year 2015 according to the latest Eurostat base year revisions as explained in the document which can be accessed through the following link.
Note that the RPI series is published in accordance to the reference base December 2016.
- FʼĠunju 2023, ir-rata annwali tal-inflazzjoni hekk kif imkejla mill-Indiċi Armonizzat tal-Prezzijiet għall-Konsumatur (HICP) kienet 6.2 fil-mija, tnaqqis mir-rata taʼ 6.3 fil-mija li kienet irreġistrata fʼMejju 2023 (Tabella nru 2).
- Ir-rata medja annwali fuq tnax-il xahar għal Ġunju 2023 kienet 6.9 fil-mija (Tabella nru 2).
- L-ogħla impatt pożittiv fir-rata annwali tal-inflazzjoni kien imkejjel fl-Indiċi tal-Ikel u x-xorb mhux alkoħoliku (+1.99 punti perċentwali) (Ċart nru 2).
