Much of the rise was due to end-of-summer sales on clothes and shoes, the national statistics agency Statec reported on 5 September. Stripping out seasonal variations and petroleum products, inflation was only 0.4%.

Statec said some month-over-month price increases were driven by the 1 August indexation, the automatic increase in salaries and pension payments. Health and medical care fees, for example, are tied to indexation.

The annualised rate of inflation was 1.5% in July.