CdM | The Consumer Price Index (CPI) fell by 0.1% in May compared to the previous month and cut its year-on-year rate by nine tenths to 3.2%, its lowest level since July 2021, due to the moderation in food prices and lower fuel prices.
With the fall in May, inflation has resumed its downward trend after the rise of eight tenths of a percentage point in April, which put it at 4.1%, according to advanced data published on Tuesday by the National Statistics Institute (INE).
The INE has attributed the moderation of inflation in May to the lower cost of fuel and, to a lesser extent, to the fact that food prices rose less in the fifth month of this year than in the same month of 2022.
The Institute includes in the advance CPI data an estimate of core inflation (without unprocessed food or energy products), which in May fell by five tenths of a percentage point to 6.1%, placing it 2.9 points above the general CPI and at its lowest level since July 2022.
The First Vice-President of the Government and Minister of Economic Affairs, Nadia Calviño, has attributed the fall in inflation in May to the moderation of food prices and lower fuel prices. In an assessment sent to the media, Calviño stressed that, after this drop, inflation in Spain is now around 3% and “even lower” if the CPI harmonised with Europe is taken into account, which in May stood at 2.9%.
For the First Vice-President, the advanced CPI data for May confirm the effectiveness of the Government’s measures, the moderation of food prices and the reduction in fuel prices, and place Spain “as one of the countries with the lowest inflation in the European Union”.
CPI falls by 0.1% in the month
In monthly terms (May over April), the CPI recorded a decrease of 0.1% after three consecutive months of monthly rises. This is the first decline in Inflation in a month of May since 2017, when it also retreated by 0.1%.
In the fifth month of 2023, the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) placed its year-on-year rate at 2.9%, nine tenths of a percentage point lower than that recorded in the previous month.
The estimated monthly change in the HICP was -0.2%. The INE will publish the final CPI data for May on 13 June.
