We would like to clarify that, following further verification, the National Statistics Office has not delayed the scheduled publication of Malta’s inflation statistics.
The confusion arose because Eurostat published a comprehensive country-by-country set of preliminary inflation figures in advance of the complete national and European releases. Instead of limiting its 1 July publication to the headline Euro-area figure, Eurostat made individual annual and monthly HICP estimates available for practically every euro-area member state.
This included Malta, even though the NSO had not yet issued its own June HICP publication. Eurostat estimated Malta’s annual inflation rate at 1.9% in June as has already been reported. The Netherlands was the only Euro-area member for which an individual June estimate was unavailable in Eurostat’s table by the publication deadline.
Eurostat’s advance publication therefore provided journalists and the public with Malta’s preliminary inflation figures before the NSO’s more detailed national release. This difference in publication timing caused confusion on our part and initially gave the impression that the NSO’s statistics had been delayed.
It must nevertheless be clarified that Eurostat’s figures are flash estimates and not the complete final HICP dataset. Eurostat states that the full set of harmonised inflation statistics for the euro area, the European Union and the individual member states is published around the middle of the following month. The complete June figures are scheduled for release on 17 July.
Several national statistical authorities had also published their own preliminary inflation figures by the beginning of July. Malta was among the countries whose estimate was available through Eurostat before a corresponding detailed national publication had been issued.
Eurostat’s early country-level publication is considerably more convenient and provides journalists with timely access to national inflation estimates in one consolidated release. It is also encouraging that individual Maltese figures are being made available before the publication of the complete national breakdown.
We regret the confusion caused by our earlier report. The NSO did not miss its scheduled publication date; rather, Eurostat made Malta’s preliminary figures available earlier through its flash-estimate publication.
Newsroom
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