2023-07-12 10:23:33
The Spanish shopping basket continues at record levels, but the increases have been moderating since January. In June, food has marked a rise of 10.3%, point and a half below the rise in May, according to the final data for June published this Wednesday by the INE. In this way, families continue to pay 10% more for food than what they paid a year ago, but the escalation is putting the brakes on.
The foods that rose the most in June were sugar, oil, milk, potatoes, cheese, pork and cereals, all with increases of more than 14% when compared to the prices of a year ago. anus. Sugar continues to be one more month the product that experienced a stronger rise compared to June 2022, when it shot up 45%, followed by olive oil, which became 31% more expensive. On the other hand, the INE data confirm that energy continues to decline and falls by 25% compared to a year ago, as well as fuels, which have fallen by 18%.
On the opposite side, the foods that became less expensive in May compared to the previous year were fresh fish (3%), nuts (4%) and fruit, which marked a price 4.2% lower than that of the year past, being the only food that has dropped from the list offered by the INE.
Inflation drops to 2%
The most positive news is general inflation, which stands at 1.9%, the first time in two years that it has fallen below 2% and a rate one and a half points lower than that of May (3.2%). This figure confirms that prices are being contained thanks to the drop in the price of energy, the food and transport measures and the ‘step effect’.
This effect is explained by the fact that just one year ago, in June 2022, prices were at their highest level of the inflationary crisis, reaching 10.2%, a value that continued to rise until reaching its maximum peak in July with 10.8%, from which it began to drop. Therefore, when now comparing prices with such high values of last year, a statistical effect is produced that leads the rate to its lowest since April 2021.
But these results cannot be underestimated, since Spain is the eurozone economy with the lowest CPI rate and for now the first to have managed to reduce inflation below 2%, the rate that the European Central Bank (ECB) ) sets as a reasonable price target. In fact, it is the frame of reference that is intended to be reached with the rise in interest rates that the agency is carrying out. The economic vice president, Nadia Calviño, indicated that the following increases will depend on the level of inflation in the eurozone countries, that Spain is at a good level but there are others with still very high inflation.
On a monthly basis (June over May), prices rose 0.6%. And for its part, core inflation, which does not include fresh food or energy products, fell from 6% for the first time in a year, standing at 5.9%, two tenths less than the previous month. This rate will be the reference for the VAT reduction on basic foods that the Government has just extended until December 31 to be maintained until then or not. And it is that the Executive specified that if this underlying rate falls below 5.5% in the month of September -data that will be known in October-, as of November 1, said VAT reduction will not be applied.
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