The consumer price index rose again in April to 4.1% with food prices nearly 13% higher than a year ago.
Consumer Price Index (CPI) Accelerated again in April to 4.1% After a sharp decline seen in March that put the index at 3.3%, months later at historically high levels, according to advanced data published Friday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE). the Prices increased by 0.6% compared to March Because of the rise in fuel prices and a certain slowdown in the collapse in electricity prices a few months ago.
For the first time in several months Food prices started to show a somewhat more moderate picture in April. In April, the increase compared to the same month last year amounted to 12.9%, compared to 16.5% in the previous month. Several factors may explain this change in trend. One of them, without a doubt, is that in April 2022 the effect of closing the flows of grain and other food products from Ukraine to the rest of Europe will have a very large impact, but moderation in food prices may also have a significant impact. The effect of food on the origin, which has begun to be detected in some markets.
According to data issued by the National Institute of Statistics on Friday, the prices of legumes and vegetables were the lowest, while the prices of meat, bread, cereals, oils, fats, milk, cheese and eggs decreased. from last year.
Food is becoming more expensive, but at a slower rate
The Ministry of Economic Affairs wanted to emphasize moderation in food prices, which represent, according to a statement issued early Friday, “the largest decline in the historical series.” However, food prices rose again in April compared to the previous month, by 0.3%, accumulating an increase of 3.7% so far this year, remaining the most important driver of market prices for the Spanish economy. It’s not that the shopping cart has gotten any cheaperbut it became more expensive somewhat less quickly.
The department headed by Nadia Calvino also confirms that the data provided by the National Institute of Statistics this Friday confirms that the current level of the consumer price index is “less than half of that recorded in the previous year”, which would be a very significant progress if it had not been recorded a year earlier. This year’s climb is compounding compared to the previous year’s. During the month, prices increased by 0.6% and in the first four months of the year they increased by 1.7%.
Other data indicates that the period of inflation is not over yet. April’s monthly rise is the third in a row, Something that has not happened since before the war broke out in Ukraineat the end of 2021. Only a dozen of about 200 goods and services that are considered in preparing the CPI have become cheaper in the past 12 months, and the current quarter is above 10% and 15 is above 20%.
The moderation in food prices contributed to the fact that the core CPI, which represents the development of the hard core of market prices, decreased from 7.5% to 6.6%, its lowest level since November last year.
The government maintained that price development in Spain was now more moderate than in the rest of Europe and that this gave competitive advantages to the Spanish economy. According to information published by the National Institute of Statistics, in fact, the harmonized consumer price index, which adapts the methodology of the National Institute of Statistics to a methodology common to all eurozone countries, was 3.8% in April compared to an average of 7% for the eurozone, although it rose in April Six-tenths more in Spain than in the eurozone.
