Malta’s rate of annual inflation rate fell over the month of May to 3.4 per cent, but nevertheless remained the highest in the eurozone, which itself had an average rate of a flat zero per cent last month – according to figures published yesterday by Eurostat, the EU’s official statistical body.

The next highest rate of inflation recorded in the eurozone was the 1.5 per cent shared by the Netherlands and Finland.

Malta’s 12-month moving average inflation, meanwhile, was at 4.5 per cent, also the eurozone’s highest.

A parallel news release issued yesterday by the National Statistics Office reported that, on a year-on-year-basis, the cost of housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels had risen by 10.8 per cent, while prices for food and non-alcoholic beverages had shot up by 9.8 per cent.

Education prices grew by 5.2 per cent and furniture, household equipment and home maintenance prices rose by 4.9 per cent. Restaurants and hotel prices, meanwhile, grew by 3.5 per cent.

The only price categories to have fallen between May 2008 and May 2009 were those of transport (-3.2 per cent) and of recreation and culture (-0.2 per cent).