According to the final data released yesterday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE), the Consumer Price Index (CPI) remained stable in August compared to July (0.0%). Year-on-year, Spain’s CPI in August was 2.3% (2.8% in July), slightly more than the initially estimated 2.2%, which was expected by the consensus of analysts. The year-on-year groups that stood out most for their influence on the decline in the year-on-year growth rate of the CPI were: i) Transportation, which recorded an annual variation of -1.3%, 3.7 points below that of the previous month. This decline was largely attributed to the drop in fuel and lubricant prices, compared to the increase in the same month of 2023; and ii) Food and non-alcoholic beverages, whose annual rate decreased by six tenths to 2.5%. This behavior was mainly due to the decline in prices of oils and fats and legumes and vegetables, contrasting with the increase in August of the previous year.
Conversely, the group with the greatest positive influence on the year-on-year growth rate of the CPI was Housing, whose annual rate increased by eight tenths to 4.0%. This increase was due to the rise in electricity prices being higher than in August 2023.
Meanwhile, the year-on-year growth rate of the underlying CPI, which excludes unprocessed food and energy prices from its calculation, was 2.7% in August, compared to 2.8% in July.
Finally, it should be noted that the harmonized CPI (HICP) also remained stable in August compared to July (0.0%), while the year-on-year rate was 2.4% (2.9% in July).
