According to the final reading of the data, released yesterday by the National Statistics Institute (INE), Spain’s consumer price index (CPI) rose by 0.4% in February compared to January, slightly more than the 0.3% initially estimated and which was expected by analysts at FactSet analysts.
On a year-on-year basis, Spain’s CPI in February, according to the final reading, was 2.8% (3.4% in January), with food rising to 5.3%, which was in line with its preliminary reading and analysts’ expectations.
In turn, core inflation, which excludes unprocessed food and energy prices for its calculation, stood at 3.5% in February, compared with 3.6% in January.
Finally, the harmonised CPI (HICP), also in its final reading, rose in February by 0.4% compared with January and by 2.9% year-on-year (3.5%). Both readings were in line with their preliminary readings and with analysts’ expectations.
Link Securities analysts’ assessment: Inflation continued to ease in Spain in February, benefiting from the sharp decline in electricity and clothing and footwear prices. Core inflation, meanwhile, although down one tenth of a percentage point from its January level, remained far from the 2% target set by the ECB. The readings were broadly in line with their preliminaries and with analysts’ expectations, and thus had no impact on market sentiment.
