2023-10-18 16:01:31
The increase in prices in the euro zone is moderating again, but Spain is losing positions in the fight against inflation due to the unstoppable rise in fuel prices. Specifically, the average annual inflation rate of the 20 euro countries fell nine tenths in September compared to the previous month, to 4.3%, the lowest rate since October 2021, as confirmed by Eurostat. Spain, which in June became the first country to reduce the inflation rate below 2% (1.9%) and which in August registered the second lowest rate along with Belgium (2.4% both), In September it fell to sixth position in the European Union with inflation of 3.3%.
The underlying CPI of the eurozone – which excludes the prices of energy, food, alcohol and tobacco due to their volatility and marks the evolution of long-term prices and serves as a reference for the European Central Bank (ECB) to time to set their monetary policy – stood at 4.5%, eight tenths less than in August, thus confirming the preliminary estimates that Eurostat published at the end of September.
On the other hand, inflation in the European Union as a whole in the ninth month of the year was 4.9%, one point less than the interannual rate observed in August and also the lowest figure since October 2021.
The moderation of the rise in prices in September is due to lower inflation rates in all product categories: that of processed foods, alcohol and tobacco falls from 10.3% to 9.4%, while The increase in the price of unprocessed foods was 6.6%, which represents a decrease of more than one point compared to August.
Energy, which was the origin of the increase in prices as a result of the exorbitant increases in gas, shows a negative rate of 4.6%, which resumes the declines that seemed to stop in August when it registered a cut of 3.3%, which was half that of the previous month.
Regarding services, the increase in prices in September was 4.7%, eight tenths less than the rate of 5.5% registered in August; and, finally, inflation of non-energy industrial goods this month was 4.1%, six tenths less.
The analysis by countries of the European Union shows that the Netherlands was the only partner that registered a decrease in its prices (-0.3%), while Denmark (0.6%), and Belgium (0.7%), recorded the lowest inflation rates in the block. The next countries with the lowest inflation were Greece (2.4%) and Finland (3%), followed by Spain, whose price increase increased nine tenths, from 2.4% in August to 3.3% in September taking into account The calculation is harmonized with the rest of the EU.
In total, inflation fell in 21 Member States, remained stable in one and increased in five. Luxembourg (3.4%), Latvia (3.6%), Estonia (3.9%) and Lithuania (4.1%) were also below the average. In contrast, the highest rates were in Hungary (12.2%), Romania (9.2%) and Slovakia (9%).
The pronounced drop in inflation in Germany stands out, of almost two points to stand at 4.3%, identical to the euro zone average, from 6.4% in August. Meanwhile, France registers 5.6% inflation and Italy 5.7%, so, despite the bad data for September, Spain continues to be the economy with the lowest inflation of the big four.
However, according to data from the National Statistics Institute (INE), the inflation rate recorded in Spain in September is even more negative. The take-off of electricity and fuel was the main trigger for the September Consumer Price Index (CPI) to increase by 0.2% in relation to the previous month, but its interannual rate took off by nine tenths, to 3.5 %.
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