After closing 2023 with 3.1 percent annual inflation, Consumer Price Index (CPI) new drill started 3.4 odds%. The indicator increased by 0.1% compared to the previous month. The main reason for the increase in January is the increase in electricity prices compared to a year ago.
Economy Minister Carlos Bodyhe emphasized that: inflation It remains “under control” and stressed that the basic rate, which is the most structural because it does not include unprocessed food and energy, is at “an almost two-year low” at 3.6%. Actually, Core inflation fell by 4 percent to 3.6 percentAccording to the leading indicator published by the National Institute of Statistics (INE).
Last year’s high was 4.1% in April and then fell to 1.9%, a period when prices rose. In any case, the general price level experienced a major moderation in 2023 compared to the development of the previous year, when it increased to 10.8% in July 2022.
In any case, essential products such as olive oil They continue to break records. Faced with this evolution, Spanish households have not been slow to react, and given that prices of basic foods have generally increased in the past year (despite the reduced VAT that most of them have), they cut their spending on these products. While olive oil purchases decreased by more than 34% in one year, sunflower oil, which has become one of the most affordable alternatives, was sold 20.9% more.
In recent months, both electricity and fuel prices have contributed to moderating the overall increase in prices. The rise in inflation caused the European Central Bank (ECB) to enter a period of interest rate increasesIt remained at 4.50%. After this phase of increase, the organization he headed Christine Lagarde Several meetings have already been held to maintain the price of money while the increase in the general price level slows down, but it is still considered “premature” to talk about declines.