MADRID – Prices have gone up again with a rise of  0.7 percent in May, according to figures released Friday.

Spain’s National Institute of Statistics (INE) said the consumer price index increased by 3.4 percent in May compared with the same period the year before.

Meanwhile, inflation is expected to rise higher than expected in May across Europe, according to Eurostat, the Office of European Statistics.

Eurostat said inflation should go up to 2.5 percent this month, compared with the 2 percent in April.

Analysts said that the increases were principally due to the increase in the price of energy, particularly petrol.

The rise in inflation across Europe is the biggest since March 2002.

Until April, the yearly rise in the level of inflation had stayed at 2 percent – the target of the European Central Bank. 

Eurostat measures its statistics by comparing prices from across the continent and compares them with ‘historical’ information.

The consumer price index in Spain uses a method employed across Europe.

[Copyright EFE with Expatica]

Subject: Spanish news