The final report presented by the National Statistics Institute (INE) showed that consumer price growth accelerated to 0.6% in April, confirming economists' forecasts, which was mainly due to higher spending on clothing, shoes, hotels and restaurants. In March, the CPI increased by 0.4%.
In annual terms, consumer prices rose 4.1%, as expected, after an increase of 3.3% in March. Transport prices rose by 0.6% after falling by 4.8% in March, while the cost of gasoline increased by 3.2% after falling by 12.6% in March. Meanwhile, the price growth for food and soft drinks slowed to 12.9% from 16.5% in March.
The Spanish central bank expects inflation will end the year at 3.7%, compared to 5.8% at the end of 2022.
The core CPI - excluding prices for fresh food and energy - increased by 6.6% per annum (the weakest growth in 5 months) after an increase of 7.5% per annum in March. The latest change coincided with the forecasts and preliminary assessment.
The data also showed that in April, the harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP) - an indicator that allows to compare inflation in Spain with inflation in European countries - grew by 0.5% on a monthly basis and by 3.8% per annum. In March, HICP increased by 1.1% and 3.1%, respectively.