Drop in fuel prices keeps inflation in Spain at 3.5% for October

Inflation in Spain, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), froze in October at 3.5% year-on-year, according to preliminary data published by Spain's National Statistics Institute (INE) on Monday. 

October's figure is the same as in September, breaking the upward trend seen in the last three months. However, this is still the highest registered CPI since April. The drop in fuel prices have allowed for the index to remain at the same level as in the previous month, even though food and non-alcoholic beverages prices increased a small amount. 

Core inflation, which ignores more volatile prices such as non-processed food and energy products, is down 0.6 percentage points to 5.2%, the lowest level since May 2022 (4.9%).

In December 2022, when inflation was reaching all-time high records, the Spanish government announced it would remove the VAT reduction for basic foods, currently in place, as soon as the core inflation fell to below 5.5%. 

Compared to August, consumer prices are up 0.2%, while compared to October 2022, the drop is of 3.8% (last year the CPI was of 7.3%). 

The INE will publish the definitive inflation data for October in mid-November, when the figures for Catalonia will also known. In September, Catalonia saw inflation rise to 3.4%.