March inflation drops to 3.3%, feeding at highs

2023-04-14 20:43:51

He Consumer price index has lowered its growth in the month of March, from 6.0% in February to 3.3% in the last month. This attenuation of the rise is due to the call Ukraine effectas the first year has passed since the Russian invasion of Ukraine that caused the explosive rise in prices in March of last year: 9.8%.

This moderation of inflation does not imply a real price decline, but only the end of the effect of Ukraine’s first post-war year on prices.

CPI March 2023 Chart / Chart: EA

This can be seen in the monthly inflation between February and March, which has grown 0.4 points, maintaining accumulated inflation in the first three months of the year at 1.1%, figures, yes, far from the 3.5% of accumulated inflation that was already suffered in the first three months of 2022.

Interannual variation of the CPI until March 2023 / Chart: EA

But this reduction in increases is transmitted in very different ways to the various product groups. Thus, food barely attenuates its year-on-year growth by one tenth, which is why it continues at a runaway 16.5% annual inflationpractically double the next group of products.

The following groups with the highest price increases are alcohol and tobacco (8.4%), hotels and restaurants (7.8%) and household items and furniture (7.3%). Still above the average CPI for March was 4.4% for leisure and culture.

Still with price rises but below the general average are clothing and footwear (3.2%), communications (2.4%), and health and education, both with 1.6%. The only year-on-year decreases in prices are in the transport sectors, with falls of 4.8%, and in housing, water and electricity, with a year-on-year decrease of 16.2%..

CPI variation by ECOICOP groups as of March 2023 / Infographic: EA

The moderation in inflation in March has in no way passed through to food, which continues with a year-on-year increase in its prices of 16.5% on average. There are products that have skyrocketed in prices, such as sugar, with a 50.4% annual increase. Above 30% annual inflation are also butter, with 37.7%, olive oil with 32.1% or milk with 30.4%.

Fresh legumes and vegetables continue with an annual rise of 27.8%, followed by 24.9% for flour, 24.5% for eggs, 22.2% for rice or 20.8% for the case of potatoes.

They also have very important growths, but already lower than the average for food, bread (13.4%), beef (13.1%), poultry (12.2%), pasta (10.5 %), sheep meat (10.3%), fresh fish (6.2%) and fresh fruit (5.6%), the subtype of food that has increased its price the least in the last year, since no variety of food has seen its prices fall in the last twelve months.

Interannual variation of the CPI by Autonomous Community until March 2023 / Map: EA

As regards the annual variation of prices by Communities, the greatest increases were maintained in Melilla, with 4.9%, the Canary Islands with 4.6% and Ceuta with 4.5%, these three being the only ones below above the barrier of 4% annual growth. The smallest annual increases occurred in Madrid, with 2.6%, Aragón with 2.7% and Extremadura, with 2.9%.. They also see how their prices have grown less than the average in the Valencian Community, Catalonia and Cantabria, with the rest of Spain suffering a price rise above the national figure, with the exception of the Basque Country, which remains average.