Figures released yesterday by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, revealed that Malta had the lowest inflation rate in Europe in June.

Eurostat said the lowest rates were observed in Malta (–0.6 per cent), Belgium, Denmark, France and Sweden with 1.3 per cent each and the highest rates were observed in Latvia with 8.9 per cent, Hungary with 8.5 per cent and Estonia with six per cent. The lowest 12-month averages up to June 2007 were in Malta (1.1 per cent), Finland (1.3 per cent), and France and Sweden (1.5 per cent).

The highest were in Latvia (7.2 per cent), Hungary (7.1 per cent) and Bulgaria (5.6 per cent.

The annual inflation of those countries in the euro area stood at 1.9 per cent in June, unchanged when compared to May. A year earlier, the rate stood at 2.5 per cent. Monthly inflation was 0.1 per cent in June 2007.

The annual inflation of all EU member states was 2.1 per cent in June, unchanged when compared to May. A year earlier, the rate was 2.4 per cent. Monthly inflation was 0.1 per cent in June 2007.

The main components with the highest annual rates in June 2007 in the euro area were education (9.2 per cent), alcohol and tobacco (3.6 per cent) and hotels and restaurants (3.2 per cent), while the lowest annual rates were observed for communications (–1.7 per cent), recreation and culture (0.1 per cent) and clothing (1.3 per cent).

The main components with the highest monthly rates were hotels and restaurants (0.5 per cent), transport (0.3 per cent) and housing (0.2 per cent), and the lowest were clothing (–0.7 per cent), communications (–0.2 per cent), household equipment, recreation and culture and education (0.0 per cent each). In particular, fruit (+0.05 percentage points) and fuels for transport (+0.04) had the largest upward impact, while vegetables and garments (–0.05 each) had the biggest downward impacts.