Preliminary data provided by the National Statistics Institute (INE) showed that in January consumer price growth accelerated to 3.4%, as expected, from 3.1% in December (the lowest level since August 2023). Housing prices rose by 1.5% per annum after falling by 5.9% per annum in December, while electricity prices rose by 9.6% per annum amid an increase in VAT on electricity bills. Meanwhile, the price increase for food and non-alcoholic beverages accelerated to 7.4% per annum from 7.3% per annum in December. Prices for alcoholic beverages and tobacco products rose by 4.2% per annum after an increase of 3.4% per annum in December.
Core CPI - excluding energy and fresh food - rose by 3.6% per year after an increase of 3.8% per year in December. The December increase was the weakest since March 2022
On a monthly basis, the CPI rose 0.1% after being unchanged in December. Economists also expected an increase of 0.1%.
The data also showed that in January, the harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP) - an indicator that allows to compare inflation in Spain with inflation in European countries - fell by 0.2% compared to December and rose by 3.5% per annum (the highest level among large eurozone economies). In December, HICP remained unchanged on a monthly basis and rose by 3.3% per annum.