Inflation rises to 3.5 pc

13 July 2004

MADRID — Inflation is steadily rising and has reached 3.5 percent in the past year, according to figures released Tuesday by Spain’s National Institute of Statistics.

The Index of Consumer Prices showed an increase of 0.2 percent in June, compared with May.

This meant in the first six months of the year, prices have gone up 2.2 percent and 3.5 percent since June last year. 

Analysts said inflation, which does not include the changes in the prices of energy prices and fresh food, had increased mainly because of the increase in tobacco prices, the expected fall in petrol prices was not as much as expected this year and the cost of package holidays at the beginning of the holiday season.

Meanwhile, this year alone,  it rose 2.8 percent, higher than government predictions.

In June this year, the biggest price rises were seen in the leisure and culture sectors where prices rose by 0.8 percent.

They were followed by alcoholic drinks and tobacco products which rose by 0.7 percent.

But the largest falls in prices were seen in clothes, which fell by 0.5 percent, and the communication sector, where prices dipped by 0.1 percent.

[Copyright EFE with Expatica]

Subject: Spanish news