The National Institute of Statistics (INE) published yesterday that, according to the preliminary reading of the data, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in Spain rose by 0.4% in February compared to January. Year-on-year, the CPI in Spain increased by 3.0% in February (2.9% in January), a reading that was in line with expectations from the consensus of analysts at FactSet.
This development is mainly due to the increase in electricity prices, compared to the decrease in February 2024. Conversely, there is a notable downward influence from fuels and lubricants for personal vehicles, whose prices are rising less than they did in February of last year.
Meanwhile, core inflation, which excludes fresh food and energy prices from its calculation, stood at 2.1% in February according to its preliminary reading, down from 2.4% in January. Finally, and also according to the preliminary reading of the data, the harmonized CPI (HICP) also rose by 0.4% in February compared to January, while its year-on-year growth rate remained stable at 2.9%. Analysts were expecting a rise of 0.5% for the HICP in February and a year-on-year rate of 2.9%.
