• Core inflation, which excludes the most volatile elements of the CPI, stands at 1%
  • Electricity price slows sharply in October

The general CPI rate remained at 2.3% year-on-year in October, the same rate as that advanced by the INE at the end of last month. The stability of inflation is due to the fact that the slight increase in transport and leisure and culture, especially tourist packages, has been offset by the downward evolution of the other components, highlighting the slowdown in electricity prices.
The prices of energy products increased 10.7% year-on-year in October, 1.3 points less than in September. This lower growth is mainly explained by electricity prices, which increased 3.8% year-on-year, almost ten points less than in September. This evolution was partially offset by the acceleration of gas prices, to 10.8%, and of fuels and lubricants, to 13.2%.
Unprocessed food prices rose 3.5% year-on-year in October, highlighting the slower rate of increase in fresh fruit prices, almost five points, up to a rate of 7%.
Thus, core inflation, which excludes the most volatile elements of the CPI (unprocessed food and energy products), stands at 1% year-on-year.
Among the components of core inflation, the prices of processed food, beverages and tobacco increased 1%, highlighting the stabilization of milk prices, compared to the 1.1% drop in September.
The prices of non-energy industrial goods (BINE) practically stabilized in October, registering a rate of 0.1% year-on-year.
The prices of the third component of core inflation, services, accelerated slightly (three tenths), to 1.6%, highlighting the prices of tourist packages, which grew 1% (compared to the 4.7% drop of the previous month) and passenger air transport, whose prices fell at a rate of 1.4%. (-10% in September). On the contrary, the prices of telephone and fax services slowed seven tenths, to 3.9%
The annual CPI rate decreases in nine autonomous communities in October compared to September, remains at three and increases in the remaining five. The largest decreases in inflation occurred in Aragon and La Rioja, with a drop of two tenths in both.
On the other hand, Cantabria and Comunidad de Madrid are the communities where the annual rate increases the most, with increases of two tenths in each of them.
The annual rate of the CPI at constant taxes stood at 2.3% in October, as did the general CPI.
The INE has also published the harmonized CPI (IPCA) corresponding to the month of October, whose interannual rate also remains at 2.3%. For its part, the rate advanced by Eurostat for the euro area as a whole stood at 2.2% in that month, resulting in a headline inflation differential of 0.1 percentage points, one tenth less than in the previous month.



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