MADRID: Spain’s consumer prices fell by 0.3 percent in January when compared with the same month of a year earlier, according to data of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) confirmed on Friday by Spain’s statistical office (INE).
The figure corresponds with the advanced data published on Jan. 29 by the INE.
Prices of items related to housing fell by 6.0 percent, especially because of lower prices of electricity; prices of transport decreased by 1.9 percent; while those of food and non-alcoholic drinks and items related to hotels, cafes and restaurants rose by 2.1 percent and 1.3 percent respectively.
Spain’s annual inflation rate stood at zero percent in 2015 and was negative throughout almost the whole year except for the months of June, July and December when the rates were 0.1 percent, 0.1 percent, and zero percent respectively.
The INE also reported that on a month-to-month basis, prices fell by 1.9 percent with items related to clothing and shoes falling by 15.3 percent due to the winter sales period.
Prices of items related to housing, transport and leisure and culture fell by 3.5 percent, 1.8 percent and 1.9 percent respectively, while prices of food and non-alcoholic drinks and other goods and services rose by 0.6 percent.
Meanwhile, Spain’s acting minister of economy and competitiveness, Luis de Guindos, said “negative inflation would be a problem if we were in a deflationary spiral and this is not the case of Spain.”
