Inflation in Spain rises to 3.2% in March

Inflation in Spain, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), climbed four tenths in March to 3.2% year-on-year, according to data published on Thursday by Spain's National Statistics Institute (INE).

The increase is mainly due to the rise in fuel and energy prices. Prices for food and non-alcoholic beverages, however, rose less than in the same month last year.

The surge brings the inflation rate back above 3%, after it fell below that level last month after being above it for more than five months in a row.

Core inflation, which excludes energy and unprocessed food, fell to 3.3% in Spain, two-tenths of a percentage point lower than in February.

Reacting to the latest figures, Spain's finance minister, María Jesús Montero, said that despite the rise in year-on-year inflation, core inflation continued to fall. "It continues the downward trend," she said in an interview with RNE radio.