Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1484790
4 NEWS maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 23 NOVEMBER 2022 4 NEWS THE annual rate of inflation as measured by the retail price in- dex (RPI) in October was 7.47 per cent, down from the 7.52 per cent in September 2022. The RPI measures month- ly price changes in the cost of purchasing a representative basket of consumer goods and services. A closely related measure of price movements is the Har- monised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP). Each monthly RPI news re- lease includes three different measures of inflation: • The annual inflation rate measures average price changes between the reference month and the same month of the previous year. Although responsive to recent changes in price levels, this measure can be influ- enced by one-off effects in either month. • The monthly inflation rate compares price changes between the ref- erence month and the previous month. This measure can be highly influenced by seasonal ef- fects. • The 12-month moving average rate overcomes the volatility of the above two rates by comparing the average of the latest 12 indices to the average of the previous 12 indi- ces. This measure is less sensitive to temporary changes in prices. Price changes and effects on inflation The highest annual inflation rates in October 2022 were registered in Housing (19.02 per cent) and Food (13.69 per cent). On the other hand, the low- est annual inflation rates were registered in Water, electricity, gas and fuels (0.00 per cent) and Clothing and footwear (2.48 per cent). In October 2022, the largest upward impact on annual in- flation was registered in the Food Index (+2.94 percentage points), largely due to higher prices of take-aways. The second and third largest impacts were measured in the Housing Index (+1.50 percent- age points) and the Transport and communication Index (+0.61 percentage points), mainly on account of higher prices of house maintenance services and cars, respectively. No downward impacts on an- nual inflation were registered for the month of October. The Housing Index registered the highest annual inflation rate of 19.02 per cent, of which Rent registered an annual rate of 5.92 per cent, Materials for house maintenance registered an annual rate of 20.22 per cent and Services for house mainte- nance registered an annual rate of 22.15 per cent. The Water, electricity, gas and fuels Index registered the lowest annual inflation rate of 0.00 per cent, since the prices of all subcomponents remained unchanged. Annual inflation rates by the 10 main groups: October 2022 October 12-month moving average rate peaks at 5.36% THE Seismic Monitoring and Research Group (SMRG) with- in the Department of Geosciences, University of Malta, regis- tered a magnitude 4.5 earthquake on Tuesday at 1.40pm local time with tremors being felt all over the islands. According to the University of Malta's Seismic Monitoring and Research Group, the epicentre was offshore just north of Gozo. MaltaToday has received reports of shaking in several localities across Malta and Gozo. The tremors were especially strong in Gozo. The SMRG operates the Malta Seismic Network, consisting of eight seismic stations located over Malta, Gozo and Comino. Following further analysis of the data from the network, as well as data recorded on stations in Sicily, the SMRG gave a revised earthquake location a few kilometres offshore, west of Gozo. The earthquake was felt all over the Maltese islands, but most strongly in Gozo. By 3pm, around 150 felt reports had been sub- mitted to the online questionnaire on the SMRG's website. Earthquake just west of Gozo shakes the islands Convicted ex-policeman Paul Sheehan cries foul over loss of service pension MATTHEW AGIUS PAUL Sheehan, an ex-police officer who had infamously shot at an un- armed motorist after a minor traffic accident, is claiming discrimination after being stripped of his service pension. In an application filed by lawyer Edward Gatt before the First Hall of the Civil Court in its Constitutional jurisdiction, Sheehan argues that he had been acquitted of the "majority" of the charges against him and was mostly found guilty of contraven- tions. He had faced disciplinary proceed- ings before the Public Service Com- mission, after the Commissioner of Police "used his arbitrary discretion" to refuse Sheehan's resignation. Describing the offences he had been convicted of as "trivial," Shee- han's lawyer is claiming that his cli- ent had been discriminated against, arguing that in many other cases, government officials had been treat- ed differently. He also argues that Sheehan has been deprived of his service pension, despite always having the relative contributions deducted from his sal- ary. This was causing him a serious breach of his Constitutional right to property, he said, adding that his various letters to the defendants had either not been replied to or reject- ed. Sheehan became a household name in 2014 after he fired aimed shots at a civilian vehicle which had failed to stop after clipping a wing mirror on a minister's official car. At the time of the offence, Sheehan had been the official police driver for Manuel Mallia, the Home Affairs minister at the time. In June 2020, Sheehan, had been found guilty of shooting at another car in November 2014, an incident which led to Mallia's resignation. In the judgement delivered in that case, Magistrate Rachel Montebello Shee- han ruled that there was "not a shred of evidence" to show that the shots had been fired in self-defence or out of necessity. However, that court had noted that although Sheehan was originally al- so charged with attempted murder, that charge was later dropped by the Attorney General. The 22- month suspended sen- tence he was handed had later been reduced on appeal to 15 months, suspended for three years. The order to confiscate the firearm and ammu- nition in Sheehan's possession was also revoked. Paul Sheehan leaving the law courts