The year-on-year CPI has remained stable due to the fact that the acceleration in prices of services and non-processed food offset the deceleration of processed food and energy prices, while inflation in non-energy industrial goods (NEIG) remains flat. The average annual rate for November stood at -0.4%. In month-on-month terms, the general CPI general rose by 0.4%, an identical figure to that of the same month in 2015.
Energy product prices fell in November by 0.5% year-on-year, versus the practically stable prices recorded in October (0.1%). This trend is mainly due to fuels and lubricants, down by 1.2 points to 0.2% and, to a lesser extent, to electricity, down by three tenths to 0.6%.
Food inflation in November stood at 0.4%, one tenth higher than in the previous month, due to the acceleration of unprocessed food prices, up by four tenths to 0.6%.This trend is mainly due to prices of legumes and fresh vegetables, where inflation eased by over four points to 1.1%. Processed food prices decelerated by a tenth to 0.3% year-on-year.
Core inflation (which excludes the most volatile elements of CPI, fresh food and energy) remained at 0.8%, due to a slight acceleration of service prices (one tenth) to 1.2%, offset by a similar deceleration in processed food prices (to 0.3%), while the annual growth rate of NEIG prices continued at 0.6%.
In month-on-month terms, the CPI increased by 0.4% in November, just as it did in the same month of 2015. By components, energy product prices remained stable after the 0.7% increase the previous year, services prices fell by 0.1%, compared to a drop of 0.2% in the same month of 2015, NEIG prices rose by 1.5%, on a par with last November, and food prices dropped by 0.1%, one tenth less than the previous year.
In the food segment, unprocessed food prices in November fell by -0.4% month-on-month, four tenths more than in the same month 2015, while processed food prices stabilised, compared to a 0.1% increase the previous year. In the non-processed food segment, prices of legumes and fresh vegetables fell by 0.3% versus a 4.8% drop one year previously.
The year-on-year CPI shrank in November in eight autonomous regions, remained unchanged in six, and rose in three. All figures remained in a positive territory. The biggest year-on-year drops were posted in Cantabria, where inflation fell from 0.8% to 0.6%, and Asturias, down from 1.0% to 0.8%, while the highest rise was in the Canary Islands, from 0.6% to 0.8%. The highest inflation rates were posted in Catalonia and Navarre (1% and 0.9%, respectively), and the lowest in La Rioja and the Region of Valencia (both 0.4%).
The year-on-year constant tax CPI for November was 0.7%, the same as the general CPI.
INE has also published the harmonised CPI (CPIA) for November, the year-on-year rate being 0.5%, the same as for the previous month. This rate is one tenth lower than the figure advanced by Eurostat for the whole of the Eurozone (0.6%, versus 0.5% in the previous month), resulting in an inflation differential favourable to Spain over the Eurozone of one tenth in November, versus parity in October.
In short, the rate year-on-year of the CPI in November remained at 0.7% due to the increases in the prices of services and unprocessed food being offset by falling energy product and processed food prices. Core inflation remains stable at 0.8% and the inflation differential in Spain's favour versus the Eurozone remains at one tenth, thereby maintaining the price competitiveness of the Spanish economy.
EFE