Prices moderated to 6.8% in November despite the fact that food continued to soar

Prices continued to ease in November as the Consumer Price Index (CPI) stood at 6.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
14 December 2022 Wednesday 01:31
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Prices moderated to 6.8% in November despite the fact that food continued to soar

Prices continued to ease in November as the Consumer Price Index (CPI) stood at 6.8%, as confirmed today by the National Statistics Institute (INE). The data represents a decrease of half a point compared to October, when the rate stood at 7.3%, and the lowest level recorded for this indicator since February.

Thus, prices chain four consecutive months of declines and are reduced by four points compared to the maximum reached last July, when the interannual rate of inflation reached a historic 10.8%. The bad news is that the price of food and non-alcoholic beverages continues through the roof, having risen by 15.3% in the last year, a percentage only one tenth lower than the rate of a month ago, which was the highest since the beginning of the series in 1994. For its part, core inflation, which does not take into account energy or fresh food, rose one tenth, to 6.3%

The main factor explaining the change in trend in the upward price curve is the drop in electricity and heating oil. The drop in the prices of fuels and lubricants also had an influence, and to a lesser extent the more discreet increase than a year ago in the prices of clothing and footwear for the new season. Likewise, the reduction in the cost of hotel accommodation is noteworthy.

The CPI registered a month-on-month drop of one tenth in November, in contrast to the usual rise in prices in the months of November, behavior mainly due to the drop in electricity prices and, to a lesser extent, to the decrease in prices of accommodation services. However, there was a monthly increase in restaurant prices.

In the last month, food and alcoholic beverages have continued to become more expensive. Compared to October, they have done half a point, with milk (5.4%), cheese (2.5%) and eggs (2.2%), olive oil (9%) and meats (4 7%) at the head of the food products that have risen the most in price.