- The underlying rate, the one that excludes the most volatile elements of the CPI, falls four tenths, down to 0.8%
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased in April 2018 by 1.1% year-on-year, according to figures published by the National Statistics Institute (INE), a rate identical to that advanced by the INE and one tenth lower than that registered in March (1.2%). This evolution is explained by the slowdown in service prices, partially offset by the acceleration of the other components. In month-on-month terms, the CPI registered an increase of 0.8% in April 2018, compared to 1% in the same month of 2017.
The prices of energy products grew by 2.3% year-on-year in April, one point more than in March, mainly due to the 3.9% increase in the prices of fuels and lubricants, 2.3 points higher than the of the previous month, and, to a lesser extent, to the moderation in the rate of decline in electricity prices (from -1.4% to -0.8%). On the other hand, gas prices slowed 5.7 points, to 0.9%.
Food inflation stood at 1.6% in April, a rate two tenths higher than the previous month. The prices of unprocessed food increased by 2%, four tenths more than in the previous month, mainly due to the acceleration in the prices of fresh and frozen fish (4.8%, a rate higher by 2.2 points a that of the previous month). The prices of processed food, beverages and tobacco accelerated one tenth, to 1.4% year-on-year, highlighting dairy products, whose prices accelerated 1.1 points, to 1.5% year-on-year.
Core inflation (which excludes unprocessed food and energy products, the most volatile elements of the CPI) moderated in April four tenths, to 0.8%, mainly due to services, whose prices decelerated eight tenths, until the 1.1%. The tourism and hospitality component has contributed mainly to this deceleration and, in particular, tourist packages, whose prices have fallen 6.7% year-on-year in April, after increasing 6.4% in the previous month due to the celebration of the Easter this year in March, while last year it was celebrated in April. For their part, the prices of non-energy industrial goods (BINE) stabilized, after falling 0.1% the previous month.
In month-on-month terms, the CPI registered a variation rate of 0.8% in April 2018, compared to the 1% increase in the same month of 2017. By component, service prices stabilized, compared to the increase in 0.8% in April 2017, while those of the other components increased: 2.6% for BINE (a rate one tenth higher than that of April 2017), 1.5% for energy products (one point more than in the same month of the previous year) and 0.1% food (-0.1% a year earlier). Within the food group, the prices of unprocessed food stabilized (-0.4% in the same period of the previous year), while those of processed foods increased by 0.2% (0.1% the previous year). ).
Inflation in April decreased compared to March in ten of the seventeen autonomous communities, highlighting Madrid and Catalonia, where it declined four and three tenths, to 1% and 1.2%, respectively, while it increased one tenth in Galicia and Castilla La Mancha, up to 1.2%.
The annual rate of the CPI for constant taxes stood at 1.1% in April, the same as that registered by the general CPI.
The INE has in turn published the harmonized CPI (HICP) for the month of April, whose year-on-year rate stands at 1.1%, two tenths lower than that of March. For its part, the rate advanced by Eurostat for the euro area as a whole in April is 1.2%, resulting in a favorable inflation differential for Spain of one tenth.
Video with the assessment of Irene Garrido, Secretary of State for Economy and Business Support:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Izn5gl3vrRs&list=PL8BBB3EB09DF437A8
