The Consumer Price Index (CPI) remained unchanged in December compared to the previous month and cut its interannual rate by one tenth, to 3.1%, due to the fact that food prices moderated their growth by almost two points, to 7.3%, since alcoholic beverages and tobacco softened their year-on-year growth by almost four points, to 3.7%.
According to the final CPI data published today by the National Institute of Statistics (INE), which confirms those reported at the end of last month, the evolution of food prices is due to the lower prices of legumes and vegetables and the fact that Prices of milk, eggs, cheese, bread, cereals and meat rose less in December 2023 than they did in the same month of 2022.
On the other hand, transportation raised its interannual rate almost four points, to 3.9%, as a result of the fact that the price of fuel for personal vehicles did not drop as much in December 2023 as in the same month of 2022.
With the moderation of its interannual rate in December to 3.1%, inflation has chained two consecutive months of declines and falls to its lowest level since last August, when it stood at 2.6%.
Core inflation (without unprocessed food or energy products) fell seven tenths in December, to 3.8%, a rate seven tenths higher than the general CPI and the lowest since March 2022, when it stood at 3. 4%.
In monthly terms (December 2023 over November of the same year), the CPI did not experience any variation after increasing the prices of tourist packages and electricity and lowering the prices of fuel and clothing and footwear due to the winter sales campaign. .
In the last month of 2023, the Harmonized Consumer Price Index (IPCA) placed its interannual rate at 3.3%, the same as in the previous month. For its part, the monthly variation of the IPCA was 0.0%.
Of the 199 CPI product subclasses, 162 have increased their prices year-on-year, 32 have decreased their prices and five have not registered a variation. In an interannual rate (December 2023 compared to the same month in 2022), what has increased in price the most is olive oil (54.6%): it became 0.5% more expensive in December 2023 compared to the previous month, 44.4% on average in 2023 and 165.5% from January 2021.
Following, as the second product of the most expensive indicator, is maritime passenger transport (25.8%); national tourist packages (17.9%); fruit and vegetable juices (15.5%) and confectionery products (14.9%).
On the other hand, what became cheaper in the last month of the year compared to December 2022 were other oils (-29.1%); natural gas (-20.3%); butane and propane (-18.5%); electricity (-17.3%), and combined passenger transport (-15.4%).
Without taking into account the reduction in the special tax on electricity and the variations on other taxes, the interannual CPI reached 3.4% in December, three tenths above the general rate of 3.1%. This is reflected in the CPI at constant taxes that the INE also publishes within the framework of this statistic.
If we look at the annual averages for 2023, the largest price increases correspond, after olive oil (44.4%), sugar (34.7%), sauces and condiments (20%), butter ( 19.5%) and rice and potatoes (19.3% in both cases).
At the other extreme, the largest price decreases on an annual average were for combined passenger transport (-39%), electricity (-36.8%), other oils (-21.9%), passenger transport by bus (-21%) and passenger transport by metro (-19.7%).
In monthly terms (December 2023 over November of the same year), the CPI did not experience any variation after increasing the prices of tourist packages and electricity and lowering the prices of fuel and clothing and footwear due to the winter sales campaign. .
What increased the most in price in the month of December compared to the previous month was maritime passenger transport (23.6%), followed by international tourist packages (13.3%) and national tourist packages (12.9% ), while what became cheaper were liquid fuels (-5.6%), diesel (-4.5%) and gasoline (-3.5%).
In the last month of 2023, the Harmonized Consumer Price Index (IPCA) placed its interannual rate at 3.3%, the same as in the previous month. For its part, the monthly variation of the IPCA was 0.0%.
At the end of December, all the autonomous communities presented positive CPI rates. Only six regions ended the year with an interannual CPI rate of less than 3%: Extremadura (2.4%), Aragón (2.5%), Madrid (2.7%), Castilla y León (2.8%) and Navarra and Asturias, both with 2.9%.
On the other hand, the highest CPI rates at the end of 2023 were recorded in the Canary Islands (3.8%), Castilla-La Mancha and the autonomous city of Melilla (3.4% in both cases) and Andalusia, the Balearic Islands, Cantabria , Valencian Community and Ceuta, which closed the year with an inflation of 3.3%.
