September inflation in Spain moderates and falls to 9%

The inflation that is shaking the Spanish economy moderated somewhat in September, down to 9% year-on-year, according to the flash estimate of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) prepared by the National Institute of Statistics (INE).

That means that today the prices of consumer goods and services are 9% higher than a year ago. However, this rate is lower than those registered in the summer, it is 1.5 percentage points lower than in August (10.5%) and returns to single-digit values, after 3 months with two-digit records (10.5% in August, 10.8% in July and 10.2% in June).

According to the Spanish statistical office, this development is mainly due to the year-on-year drop in electricity prices, which rose in September 2021. The drop in prices of fuels also influenced, although to a lesser extent, compared to the rise in the year above.

The drop in costs related to transport has also had an influence, says the INE.

If this result is confirmed by the middle of next month, when the Spanish statistical office publishes all the details of the development of prices, this 9% would be the lowest inflation rate since May 2022.

Core inflation

For its part, the core inflation, which excludes from the calculation the most volatile elements of the basket of goods and services such as energy and fresh food, also fell moderately in September to 6.2% (from 6.4% in August).

In monthly terms, consumer prices registered a fall of –0.6% in September compared to August (when they rebounded 0.3%), according to the CPI flash estimate.

Finally, the harmonized CPI estimate, which allows to compare inflation with the rest of the European Union (EU) countries, stayed at 9.3%.