inflation rate

Lack of supplies and last year’s price drop key reasons behind soaring costs

Decline due to falls in prices of fuel and housing, including supplies

Decline drops in tandem with falls in price of fuel and supplies to households

Prices have started to recover. They increased by 0.3% this past November in Catalonia and broke the negative trend of the last three months. Thus, the annual inflation rate is now 0%, according to the Spanish Institute of Statistics (INE). This increase has been caused mainly by the stabilisation of fuel prices, which dropped in 2014, the increase in the cost of electricity in comparison to the same period last year and the rise in the price of clothing and housing in November. Barcelona is the only region where the inflation rate is slightly positive; it was 0.1% at the end of November, whereas the previous month it was -0.1%. In the whole of Spain, prices rose by 0.4% last month in comparison to October but the annual rate is still negative, at -0.3%. 

Catalonia posts a -0.5% annual inflation rate in September, the second consecutive negative figure this year. This decline is mainly caused by the fall in electricity and fuel prices, which has led to an annual decrease in housing (-3.5%) and transportation (-6.6%) prices. However, the sector which registered the highest drop in monthly terms was leisure, -3% in comparison to last September. On the other side, the price of clothing, education and medicine has increased this month, while food and non-alcoholic beverage prices remained steady. All the Autonomous Communities have seen a decrease in the annual inflation rate and in Spain as a whole prices have dropped by 0.9%. Catalonia is, together with the Basque Country, the Community with the second-smallest decrease in the annual inflation rate. 

Catalonia’s annual inflation rate increased from a rate of 0.3% in June to 0.4% in July, according to information released on Thursday by the Spanish Statistics Institute (INE). This is the highest yearly rate since June 2014, when prices also increased 0.4% compared to the previous year. In Spain as a whole, annual inflation continued at the 0.1% rate registered in June. Therefore, deflation is gradually being left behind, although price increases are still at a low level, mostly due to the continuing low price of fuel on the global market. However, in monthly terms, prices declined by 0.8% in Catalonia, mainly owing to a 13.3% drop in the price of retail goods due to seasonal sales, but also because of a 0.5% drop in the price of fruits and vegetables. The increase in housing rentals, communications and entertainment, mostly travel industry, have not been able to compensate for the aforementioned declining prices in monthly terms.

Prices increased by three-tenths during June and left an annual inflation of 0.3%, the highest in Catalonia in the last year, particularly since June 2014, according to data published Tuesday by the Spanish Institute of Statistics (INE). This data marks the second consecutive month with positive inflation in Catalonia after six consecutive months of recording negative rates. Spain as a whole also entered this June with positive inflation (+0.1%) after 11 months straight of deflation. June 2015 is the first month since June 2014 with positive annual inflation in both Catalonia and Spain as a whole, signifying economic recovery. Prices for electricity – which increased this June after falling last year – and the upward trend in prices of fresh fruit have decisively solidified recent inflation.

In Catalonia, prices rose in March by 0.7% compared to February, due to price increases registered in clothing and fuel, according to the Spanish Institute of Statistics (INE). However, the annual inflation rate remained negative for the 5^th consecutive month, standing at -0.3%. Despite this bad news, March's annual inflation rate was higher than February's -0.8%. The Catalan trend reflects partly that registered in Spain as a whole, where prices rose in March by 0.6%. However, the annual inflation rate remained negative, standing at -0.7%. For Madrid, it represents the 9^th consecutive month of negative inflation, although the situation in March is better than February's -1.1% annual rate.  

In February, prices in Catalonia increased by 0.2% in monthly terms but decreased by 0.8% in annual terms, according to figures released on Thursday by the Spanish Statistics Institute (INE). The inflation rate in Catalonia has been in negative territory for the last 4 months, despite the improvement in February. The monthly increase in fuel prices has been the main factor behind February's positive figures. In Spain as a whole, prices also increased, by 0.2%, over the last month but showed a 1.1% decline in annual terms. Spain's annual inflation rate has been negative for the last 8 months. Therefore, there is a serious risk of deflation, which could represent a threat by making it more difficult to pay back debt.

Prices in Catalonia dropped by 1.4% in January compared to the figures for December, which represents the biggest monthly decrease ever registered on the records of the Spanish Statistics Institute (INE) (since 2002, when comparable data started to be compiled). Furthermore, the annual inflation rate posted at the end of February reached -0.9%, which is the lowest figure since July 2009, in the middle of the first economic recession. The sustained decrease of oil prices is the main reason for such results and Catalonia has now accumulated 3 consecutive months with negative rates within the Consumption Price Index (IPC) in annual terms. In Spain as a whole, prices dropped by 1.6% in monthly terms at the end of January, which is also the biggest decrease within the series of comparable records. Furthermore, Spain’s annual inflation reached -1.3%, the lowest since July 2007. 

Catalonia ended 2014 with an annual inflation rate of -0.7%, the lowest rate since 1978, when records for the Spain’s Autonomous Communities began, according to data published on Thursday by the Spanish Statistics Institute (INE). The previous month, at the end of November, the annual consumer price index registered a rate of -0.3% in Catalonia. In the whole of Spain, the annual inflation rate at the end of December 2014 was -1%. This is the lowest rate registered since December 1961, when comparable data started to be collected. At the end of November, prices were decreasing by -0.4% in annual terms in Spain as a whole. Therefore, both in Catalonia and in Spain overall, last year ended with a significant price drop, mostly due to falling fuel prices.

For the second time this year, prices have decreased in Catalonia in annual terms. By the end of November, inflation dropped by -0.1% compared to 12 months ago, mostly due to a drop in electricity and fuel prices, according to figures released on Friday by the Spanish Statistics Institute (INE). In monthly terms, prices stagnated over November compared to the October ones. In the whole of Spain, prices dropped by -0.1% in monthly terms and by -0.4% in annual terms. Spain is now accumulating 5 consecutive months of negative inflation rates. The INE explains this annual drop by the price decrease of housing (which includes electricity), transport (which includes fuels) and food and non-alcoholic drinks. In November electricity prices only increased by 0.7% in annual terms, while they grew by 1.7% in October. Fuel prices dropped by -1.8% in November, while they had only decreased by -1.1% in October.

According to figures from the Spanish Institute of Statistics, prices in Catalonia have risen from -0.3% in Octoeber 2013 to an annual inflation rate of 0.1% in October this year, the same as that of September. Inflation has been kept low by falling prices of electricity, while the rising cost of fresh food has prevented negative inflation. In Spain, prices have risen from a -0.6% annual inflation registered 12 months ago to a negative inflation of -0.1%, accumulating four consecutive months of negative rates. The prices of fresh food and non-alcoholic beverages influenced the most the annual price increase in Catalonia, and thus offset the low performance in other sectors that are contributing to keep annual inflation close to zero in Catalonia, and in the negative for the last four months in the whole of Spain.