Alex Trelinski
SPAIN has recorded its biggest annual inflation hike since 1989 according to figures released on Monday by the National Statistics Institute(INE).
Preliminary numbers for February stood at a 7.4 % year-on-year increase.
The largest rises, according to the INE were for food, fuel, and non-alcoholic beverages.
It’s the 14th successive month that inflation was gone up in Spain.
February’s figures showed a 0.6% rise on the previous month’s total, which had fallen compared to December.
The increase is larger than what economists had predicted.
Core inflation, which doesn’t include food and fuel, rose by 3%- the biggest increase since . 2008.
Energy prices are set to soar further due to the Ukraine invasion and Europe’s dependence on Russian gas supplies.
Transport Minister, Raquel Sanchez Jiminez, said: “We are in an incredibly uncertain situation. We were already dealing with inflation, and now a conflict in Ukraine.”
“We’re worried, and we are analysing what measures we can take,” she added.
Spain is heavily subsidising domestic power bills by slashing taxes but the measure is scheduled to expire at the end of April.
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