Malta: Education costs tops food as largest contributor to cost of living increase in September

As thousands of children and students returned to their classes in the past few weeks, education performed as the highest contributor to annual inflation, at 17.2%, with food and beverage, which had consistently topped the charts over Summer, coming a distant second at 3.5%.

In September 2021, the annual rate of inflation as measured by the HICP was 0.7%, up from 0.4% in August 2021, according to data released by the NSO.

On the other hand, the lowest annual inflation rates were registered in Communication (-1.6%) and Transport (-0.4%).

On an annualised basis, the largest upward impact on annual inflation was measured in the Food and non-alcoholic beverages Index (+0.6%), while the largest downward impact was recorded in the Restaurants and hotels Index (-0.67%).