• Spain will repeat in 2023 as the largest economy in the EU with the most inflation: 4.8%, twice as expected

Food

and non-alcoholic beverages

became more expensive

by 11% year-on-year in the month of May

, nine tenths more than in April and the highest rate since the beginning of the series, in

January 1994,

which, together with the rise in price of fuels caused a

rise of 8.7% in the CPI

, as confirmed this Friday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE).

Bread and cereals, milk, cheese, eggs and meat rose especially, products that had remained stable in 2021.

For their part, products linked to Transport became more expensive by 14.9%, a rate more than two points above that registered in April, due to the rise in

fuel

prices , despite the fact that last month, as in In

April, the

discount of 20 cents per liter

on fuel approved by the Government to alleviate the pockets of drivers was in force.

These two groups -food and fuel-, which present a

fairly inelastic demand

-that is, no matter how much their price rises, consumers have to resort to them anyway-, caused the CPI to rise

0.8% in monthly terms

, compared to april.

Core

inflation

-which excludes the prices of energy and fresh products and serves as a thermometer to measure the contagion of the rise to other goods and services- rose by

4.9%.

Compared to April, the core rose 0.7%.

Electricity , on the

other

hand, took a breather in May and registered a more moderate price increase than in April, of

30.2%

, among other things due to the base effect, since the price begins to be compared with months of the year past in which it was already rising.

With the increase in May, the CPI accumulates an

average increase of 8.1%

so far this year, which means that on average this year consumers are finding prices 8.1% more expensive than last year .

The

OECD

has already warned this week that inflation will last longer and be higher, as a result of the prolongation of the war in Ukraine and, above all, of the

sanctions imposed against Russia

that are by definition inflationary, since by prohibiting the purchase of energy from that country, the prices of energy products continue to rise as the supply available on the market decreases.

For this reason, the OECD forecasts that the CPI will close the year with an

average rise of 8.1%

and next year it will remain high and end the year again with an average rise of

4.9%.

Conforms to The Trust Project criteria

Know more

  • Inflation