Alex Trelinski
THE RATE of annual inflation in Spain held steady in December hitting 3.1% according to provisional figures published on Friday by the National Statistics Institute.
Inflation fell by 0.1% compared to November’s total.
Fuel prices fell at a slower rate than they did a year earlier, the INE said, while electricity prices rose less steeply on year-on-year basis.
The INE said that the price of food and non-alcoholic drinks had stabilised compared to December 2022.
Sources from the Economy Ministry described the December inflation fall as positive and linked the decrease ‘to the good performance of food and electricity prices’.
Core inflation, which strips out the more volatile effects of unprocessed food and energy, slowed sharply to 3.8% from 4.5% in November, INE said.
The Ministry source commented: “Thanks to the measures adopted by the government, headline and core inflation continue to fall, allowing wages to continue to gain purchasing power and Spanish companies to become more competitive, even in the difficult international context.”
Concerns over inflation rebounding led the government to extend many of its ‘anti-crisis’ measures on Wednesday with some variations.
The VAT reduction on basic foodstuffs will continue until the end of June while tax on electricity goes up from 5% to 10% next month, ahead of a return to the normal rate of 10%.
