MADRID (AFP) – Spain’s inflation rate fell in August for the third consecutive month as fuel and food prices eased, preliminary official data showed yesterday.
Consumer prices rose 2.2 per cent on an annual basis, down from 2.8 per cent in July, national statistics office INE said in a statement.
The main factor slowing inflation was a fall in fuel prices, which had risen in the same period last year, and to a lesser extent by a decline in food prices, it added.
Spanish inflation hit a record 10.8 per cent in July 2022, its highest level since 1985, but it has since eased.
“We are combining one of the highest growth rates in the Eurozone with the progressive moderation of prices and the improvement of citizens’ purchasing power,” Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on X.
“Spain is going in the right direction,” he said.
Sanchez put in place a series of measures to help households cope with higher inflation in 2022.
Those included free commuter rail travel along with lower value-added taxes on energy bills and some food items, which are due to be phased out this year.
The European Central Bank raised interest rates in efforts to bring eurozone inflation back to its two-per-cent target, but it cut them for the first time in almost five years in June as price rises have eased
