- The underlying rate, which excludes the most volatile elements of the CPI, remains at 1.2%
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased in September 2017 by 1.8% year-on-year, a rate coinciding with that advanced by the INE at the end of last month, and two tenths higher than in August, according to published figures by the National Institute of Statistics (INE). This evolution is mainly explained by the increase in prices of unprocessed food, after the fall in August, and to a lesser extent by the acceleration of services and non-energy industrial goods (BINE), partially offset by the slower pace of growth in the prices of energy products and processed food. In month-on-month terms, the CPI grew by 0.2% in September 2017, compared to the zero variation of the same month in 2016.
The prices of energy products increased 5.8% year-on-year, five tenths less than in August, due to the slowdown in electricity prices, which went from registering a rate of 5.4% year-on-year in August to 4.4% in September, and gas, which reduced their growth by 1.2 points, to 11.4%. For their part, the prices of fuels and lubricants accelerated one tenth, to 5.5%.
Food inflation stood at 1.3% in September, one point higher than the previous month. The prices of unprocessed food grew 2.2%, after falling 1.6% in the previous month, mainly due to the evolution of the prices of fresh fruits, which moderated their rate of decline by 12.1 points, to 2.7%, and, to a lesser extent, of those of fresh vegetables, whose prices accelerated 6.5 points in September, to 8.6%. The prices of processed food, beverages and tobacco increased 0.9% in September, two tenths less than in August.
Core inflation (which excludes unprocessed food and energy products, which are the most volatile elements of the CPI) remained at 1.2% in September, as the smaller increase in processed food was offset by the acceleration of services and of the BINE. Services grew 1.8% year-on-year, one tenth more than in August, highlighting the evolution of the prices of tourist packages, which accelerated 2.6 points, to 8.8%, and of interurban public transport, which They increased their growth rate 1.8 points, to 4.3%. For their part, BINE prices increased slightly in September, 0.1%, after stabilizing the previous month.
In month-on-month terms, the CPI increased 0.2% in September 2017, compared to the zero variation of the same month in 2016. By component, service prices fell 0.7%, one tenth less than a year before; those of the BINE increased by 1.4%, one tenth more than in September 2016; those for food increased 0.2% (-0.8% a year earlier); and those of energy products increased 1%, five tenths less than in September last year.
Within the food group, the prices of unprocessed food registered a month-on-month rate of 1.2% in September 2017 (-2.6% in the same month of 2016), and those of processed foods a rate of – 0.2% (0% a year earlier).
The year-on-year CPI rate increased in September in twelve autonomous communities and remained unchanged in the other five. The greatest increases occurred in the Community of Madrid (four tenths, up to 1.8%), Andalusia and the Valencian Community (both three tenths, up to 1.8%). The communities that kept their inflation rate unchanged compared to that of August were Cantabria (1.8%), Galicia (1.8%), Castilla y León (1.7%), Principality of Asturias (1.5 %) and the Canary Islands (1.4%).
The annual rate of the CPI at constant taxes stood at 1.8% in September, as did the general CPI.
The INE has also published the harmonized CPI (HICP) corresponding to the month of September, whose interannual variation rate stands at 1.8%, two tenths lower than that of August. For its part, the rate advanced by Eurostat for the euro area as a whole stood at 1.5% in September, identical to that of the previous month, resulting in an inflation differential for Spain with respect to the euro area of 0.3 points, two tenths lower than in August.
