According to the final reading of the data, released by the National Statistics Institute (INE), the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in Spain rose by 0.1% in March compared to February.
In year-on-year terms, Spain’s CPI rebounded by 2.3% in March (3.0% in February), a reading that coincided with its preliminary figure and with analysts’ expectations. In March and in year-on-year terms, the groups that stood out most for their influence on the decrease in the annual rate were: i) Housing, whose annual rate decreased by more than four points to 5.7%. This decrease was due to the fall in electricity prices, compared to the increase in March 2024; ii) Transport, which placed its annual change at -0.9%, representing 1.2 points below the previous month. This behavior was due to the prices of fuels and lubricants for personal vehicles, which decreased compared to the increase in the same month of 2024; and iii) Leisure and Culture, whose annual rate fell by 1.7 points to -0.3%. This decrease was due to the fact that the price increases for tourist packages were smaller than in March 2024.
Core inflation, meanwhile, which excludes the prices of unprocessed food and energy products, decreased by two tenths in March compared to February, and stood at 2.0%.
Finally, it should be noted that the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) rose by 0.7% in March compared to February and by 2.2% year-on-year (2.9% in February), both readings in line with their preliminary figures and with analysts’ expectations.
