The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.6% in February in relation to the previous month and suddenly raised its year-on-year rate more than one point, to 7.4%, its highest rate in 33 years, specifically since July 1989.
With the data for February, the interannual CPI chains its fourteenth consecutive positive rate, according to advanced data published this Monday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE).
According to statistics, the increase in YoY CPI February to 7.4% is due to “generalized” increases in most of its components, among which those of food and non-alcoholic beverages and fuels stand out, as well as the behavior of electricity prices, that in February they fell less than they did in the same month of 2021.
The INE incorporates in the CPI data preview an estimate of underlying inflation (without unprocessed food or energy products), which increased six tenths in February, to 3%, which is more than four points below the general CPI rate.
Monthly advance of 0.6%
In monthly rate, andl CPI registered an increase of 0.6% in February compared to January, in contrast to the decrease of 0.4% experienced the previous month. In the second month of 2022, the Harmonized Consumer Price Index (IPCA) placed its interannual rate at 7.5%, more than one point above that of January.
For its part, the advance indicator of the IPCA advanced 0.7% in monthly rate. The INE will publish the final CPI data for February in mid-March.
It is the second month in which the Statistics publishes the CPI data with the new 2021 base, in which methodological novelties are incorporated that improve the precision of the indicator, as well as changes in the composition of the shopping basket and a new weighting structure.
Thus, the base CPI 2021 incorporates new treatments for the monitoring of the prices of the dress and for the processing of the lack of price, and updates the list of subclasses, so that 24 subclasses disappear from the CPI calculation and two new ones are incorporated.
The most notable changes in the configuration of the basket are the incorporation of hygienic masks and the subscription to the ‘online’ press. from the basket items such as the image player, the portable player or the compact-disc and the DVD disappearamong others.