Inflation fell in October for the third consecutive month and stood at 7.3%, according to the final data published this Tuesday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE), which confirms the data anticipated by the organization on October 28, from 7 ,3%. The inflation rate fell in October thanks to the moderation in the prices of the light (which cut their annual rise to 2.6%) and the gas and even though the food They returned to mark a record annual rise, of 15.4%, and the new rise in fuels.
In the monthly rate, the consumer price index (CPI) fell 0.3% in October compared to the month of September, which leaves the annual rate at 7.3%, with a cut of 1.6 points compared to inflation of 8.9% marked in September, further and further away from the peak of 10.8% recorded in the month of July.
upward pressure
According to the data detailed by the lNE, the annual increase of 15.4% recorded by the food group, one point higher than that of last month, is the highest since the beginning of the series, in January 1994. annual increases scoring foods such as sugar (42.8%), the legumes and vegetables (25.7%), the eggs (25.5%), the milk (25%), the oil (23.9%), the cereals and derivatives (22.1%), the potatoes (19.9%), the chicken (18.3%), the bread (14.9%) or the beef (14.9%).
It also pushed up the rise in the prices of the fuels, which increased by 2.9% in October compared to the previous month.
downward pressure
Despite the rise in food and fuel, the cut in the inflation rate in October was mainly due to the drop in electricity prices, which decreased 22.5% compared to September, leaving its variation at 2.6% compared to October 2021. The monthly decrease in the price of gas (-6.4%) with the help of the VAT reduction and the increase in prices due to the start of the new season of dress and footwearwhich was 1.4% more moderate than in 2021. The 20% annual cut in urban public transport, thanks to government measures, also contributes favorably to reducing inflation.
The underlying does not loosen
The annual rate of change of the call Underlying inflation (which excludes the more volatile prices of non-processed food and energy products) remained at 6.2% in October, that is, 1.1 points below the general CPI. The INE has also published data on harmonized CPI with the euro zone (IPCA), which stands at 7.3%, the same level as the general rate. At constant taxes, that is, without taking into account the reductions in indirect taxes (VAT and special taxes) operated in the last year, the inflation data for October would have stood at 7.7%, four tenths above the official rate , according to INE calculations.
By autonomous communities, the highest inflation rate was found in Castilla-La Mancha (8.6%) and the lowest in Madrid (6.3%). In Cataloniainflation has gone from 8.5% recorded in September to 6.8% in October.
The second country with the lowest inflation
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The drop in the inflation figure to 7.3% makes Spain the country with the second lowest rate of price rise in the European Union, only behind France and well below the average for the euro area, which , according to data advanced by Eurostat, stood at 10.7% in October.
From the Ministry of Economy, it is expected that inflation will remain at levels similar to those of October until the end of the year, before returning to the downward path from next January. The Government attributes a large part of the moderation in prices thanks to the adoption of measures such as the Iberian mechanism, the reduction of public transport or the reduction of taxes on the gas and electricity bill, as well as the drop in prices energy in international markets.