Latest NSO statistics "confirm just how necessary, the stability social pact was and how it already left a substantial impact," a government statement read.

"According to the latest statistics, inflation in February was 2.3%, a 0.9 percentage point reduction when compared to January of this year. The difference between January and February was bigger than the difference between the five months prior together," the government said.

Regarding the price of food, between January and February it reduced by 1.2%, it said,

Since last September, while inflation in Europe started dropping, in Malta it didn't. "There were periods where it rose. As such, an exercise was undertaken to identify those products of which their price was varying not according to European prices. Discussions with the private sector resulted in the stability mechanism called 'Stabbiltà'."

The government said that a month in after the introduction of this mechanism, inflation prices of food began reducing and moving towards the European average.

It said that among the food products that saw inflation reduce were products that form part of this mechanism, including coffee, margarine, tuna, frozen vegetables, among others.

While the cost of coffee around Europe has been reducing for more than a year, in Malta after summer it was six times higher than the EU average, the government said, adding that in February, the inflation rate for covvee dropped from 15.6% to 6.5%.

 "Stabbiltà" also led to a substantial change in prices of processed fish, especially tuna, government said. After the introduction of the scheme, inflation in this regard dropped from twice the EU average to one where it is less than it was a year earlier.

In terms of cereal products, inflation dropped from 13% to less than 8% in one month.

Regarding margarine, since February, inflation for this project dropped from 9.2% to -4.8%, government said. It said that the scheme left an impact on other food products that weren't part of the initiative also.

Government said it is committed to helping families carry the weight of inflation. It said that aside from COLA increases, increases in the minimum wage, pensions, the Children's Allowance and stimulus checks, the government also subsidised energy and is continuing to help farmers and fishermen