• The CPI slowdown is mainly due to the lower growth in fuel and electricity prices
  • Core inflation, which excludes the most volatile elements of the CPI, decreases one tenth, reaching 0.9%

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) decreased in March seven tenths, up to 2.3% year-on-year, according to figures published by the National Statistics Institute (INE), a rate coinciding with that advanced by the INE at the end Last month This behavior was mainly due to the lower growth in prices of energy products and, to a lesser extent, to the slowdown in prices of unprocessed food and services. In inter-monthly terms, the general CPI stabilized in March (0.0%), compared to the 0.6% increase in the same month of 2016.

Energy products prices rose 11.7% year-on-year in March, 5.1 points less than in February. This evolution is explained by the lower growth rate of fuel and lubricant prices, which went from 18.5% year-on-year in February to 12.8% in March, as well as by the slowdown in electricity prices, 6, 4 points up to 12.5%.

Food prices grew 1.4% compared to the same month of 2016, three tenths less than in February. Inflation of unprocessed food stood at 4.3%, 1.1 points below that of the previous month, largely due to the slowdown in prices of fresh vegetables (15.4 points, up to 6.8%), partially offset by the higher growth in fresh fruit prices (from 7.6% in February to 10.3% in March). The prices of processed food, beverages and tobacco increased slightly in March, 0.1%, one tenth more than in February, highlighting the behavior of oils and fats, which moderated 0.9 points the rate of fall, to 0 , 7%.

Core inflation (which excludes unprocessed food and energy, which are the most volatile elements of the CPI) decreased one tenth in March, to 0.9%. This is mainly due to the slowdown in the prices of services, two tenths to 1.1%, especially highlighting the evolution of the prices of tourist packages, which increased from 5.9% in February to 0.1% in March, explained in part to the different calendar of Holy Week – last year it was held in March and this year it is celebrated in April. On the other hand, the prices of non-energy industrial goods (BINE) increased 0.6%, as in the previous month.

In inter-monthly terms, the CPI stabilized in March, after the 0.6% increase registered in March 2016. By components, the prices of energy products fell 2.6%, after the 1.8% rise in a year before; those of services grew 0.2%, two tenths less than in March 2016; those of the BINE increased 1.1%, as in March of last year; and those of food fell by 0.3%, compared to the stabilization of March 2016. Within the food group, prices of unprocessed food registered an inter-monthly rate of -1.2% (-0.2% a year earlier), while processed foods rose 0.2% (0.1% in March 2016).

The interannual rate of the CPI decreased in March in all the autonomous communities. The largest declines were recorded in Extremadura and Murcia (one point in both cases, up to 1.9% and 2%, respectively), while the lowest fall in inflation corresponded to the Canary Islands (four tenths, up to 2.1 %).

The interannual rate of the CPI to constant taxes stood at 2.3% in March, as was the general CPI.

The INE has also published the harmonized CPI (CPI) corresponding to the month of March 2017, whose year-on-year variation rate stands at 2.1%, lower by nine tenths than that of February. For its part, the harmonized CPI rate advanced by Eurostat for the whole of the euro zone stands at 1.5% in March, five tenths below that of February, thus reducing the inflation differential for Spain by four tenths to the euro zone, to stand at 0.6 percentage points.



Source of the new