The inflation rate (increase in prices compared to the same month of the previous year) in Spain rose two tenths in February, after having been 5.9% in January, according to the National Institute of Statistics (INE).
If the INE estimate for February is confirmed, this was the second consecutive month of rising inflation in Spain, after five months of decline, between August and December 2022.
Inflation in Spain was 10.5% in August, 8.9% in September, 7.3% in October, 6.8% in November and 5.7% in December.
Spain closed last year with the lowest rate in the European Union, after having one of the highest values in the first half of 2022 and having registered the highest inflation in the country since 1984 in July (10.77%).
This despite the record rise in food prices, which in December were again above 15% (15.7%), compared to the same month last year, values that are the highest since 1994.
According to the estimate released today, without the prices of unprocessed food and energy (core inflation), the price variation in January was 7.7% in Spain, two tenths more than the 7.5% in December.
Core inflation has not been as high in Spain since the 1980s, according to the Spanish INE.
According to the institute, inflation increased again in February due to the prices of electricity (which rose this month and had fallen in February 2022) and food and non-alcoholic beverages.
The increase in inflation in January was mainly attributed to fuel prices.
In January, the Spanish government ended a discount of 20 cents for each liter of fuel purchased by individuals.
At the same time, in an attempt to respond to rising food prices, a new set of measures came into force last month, including the suspension of VAT (consumption tax) on some foods and products considered basic.
Throughout 2022, Spain approved several packages of measures to deal with inflation of more than 3% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), around 45,000 million euros, including direct aid to consumers and companies and tax benefits, such as the reduction of VAT on electricity and gas to 5% or a discount of 20 cents per liter on the purchase of fuel.
In an interview given this Monday to the Telecinco television channel, the president of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, had already anticipated a “slight increase” in inflation, which he attributed to the evolution of energy prices, but said that there should have been a decline in the coming months.
Source: TSF
