The Consumer Price Index (CPI) registered a null interannual rate in December, according to data published by the National Statistics Institute (INE). This rate is three tenths higher than that of November and coincides with that advanced by the INE at the end of last December. The components of the CPI that have contributed to this increase are energy products and, to a lesser extent, unprocessed food. After this result, the average annual CPI rate for 2015 stood at -0.5%, compared to -0.2% in 2014.
The prices of energy products registered a year-on-year rate of -7.5% in December, compared to -10% the previous month. The lower drop was mainly due to fuels and fuels, which slowed the year-on-year rate of decline by more than three percentage points, to 10.6%. Electric power also had an influence, which experienced an interannual advance of 0.7%, three tenths higher than the previous month.
The year-on-year rate of change in food prices remained at 1.7% in December. This stability derives from a slight acceleration of the raw feed, one tenth to 2.5%, and from the non-variation of the processed feed. In the case of fresh food, the slight acceleration responded to fresh fruits and fresh and frozen fish, partially offset by sheep and chicken meat and by the moderation of fresh vegetables and legumes (2%, compared to 4.4% from the previous month). For its part, the annual rate of processed food, beverages and tobacco remained at 1.4% for the fifth consecutive month. Oils and fats continues to be the most inflationary item in this group, with an interannual increase of 23.6%, although this rate has moderated in recent months.
Core inflation (which excludes the most volatile elements of the CPI, such as fresh food and energy) moderated in December by one tenth, to 0.9%, and its annual average rate stood at 0.6% in 2015, compared to 0.0% the previous year. The slight decrease in December is explained by the prices of BINE (Non-Energy Industrial Goods), whose annual rate decreased one tenth, to 0.6%. Inflation for services remained at 1% and that for processed food at 1.4%.
The deceleration of the BINE was due, in turn, to the moderation in clothing and footwear, whose annual rate decreased one tenth, to 0.5%, interrupting the upward trend that it showed since the spring of 2015. This may respond to a greater advance of the first winter sales than in the past year. Within services, the moderation of two tenths in the heading tourism and hospitality stands out, which in turn was generated by the behavior of organized travel prices, which slowed 1.2 points, to 2.8%.
In month-on-month terms, the general CPI declined 0.3% in December and the underlying CPI remained stable. The fall in the general index is explained by a decrease in the prices of energy products of 2.2%, due to fuels and fuels, and BINE, especially in the heading of clothing and footwear, which recorded a decrease of 2 %, for the advancement of winter sales. Also contributing to this fall in the General Index was the slight decrease in unprocessed food (-0.1%), especially in the fresh fruit items (-2.9%) and fresh vegetables (-1.4%). ).
The year-on-year CPI rate increased in December in all the Autonomous Communities, reaching positive values in the Balearic Islands, Catalonia, the Basque Country (0.3% in all three), the Valencian Community (0.2%) and La Rioja (0, one%). Inflation was nil in the Community of Madrid and Andalusia and negative rates were registered in the rest. On the other hand, the annual rate of the CPI at constant taxes stood at 0% in December, the same as that of the General CPI.
The INE has also published the harmonized CPI (IPCA) corresponding to the month of December, whose annual rate stands at -0.1%, three tenths higher than the previous month. If this rate is compared with that estimated by Eurostat for the euro area as a whole in December (0.2%), the inflation differential favorable to Spain moderates three tenths, down to 0.3 percentage points.
