Inflation in Spain drops sharply to 1.9% in June
Spanish inflation slowed sharply in June as fuel, electricity and food price increases eased, official data showed Thursday, in a boost for the left-wing government ahead of a snap election surveys suggest it will lose.
With barely three weeks until the July 23rd general election, inflation tumbled by more than one percentage point in June, reaching 1.9 percent year-on-year, down from 3.2 percent a month earlier, figures from the National Statistics Institute (INE) showed.
The result offered fresh hope to Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who has repeatedly flagged the results of his economic policy in order to gain ground in the polls where his Socialists are tailing the right-wing Popular Party (PP).
The preliminary figure brings Spanish inflation in line with the two percent target set by the European Central Bank for the eurozone.
Sánchez's left-wing coalition government has implemented a series of measures to bring down inflation which hit a record 10.8 percent in July 2022, its highest level since 1985.
Using the ECB's preferred yardstick, known as the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP), Spanish inflation stood at 1.6 percent, or 1.3 points lower than the May figure of 2.9 percent.
Core inflation, which is seasonally adjusted and excludes energy, fell by 0.2 points to 5.9 percent year-on-year.
Sánchez's government has rolled out a raft of budgetary measures to bolster the purchasing power of households that have been hard hit by inflation, which last year reached an average of 8.4 percent.
At the end of December, the government axed VAT on a range of basic foodstuffs in a measure that was extended this week until the year's end.
The move raised to almost €50 billion ($54.57 billion) the overall amount released by Spain's government to help those struggling with soaring inflation and runaway food and energy prices.
The June inflation rate puts Spain in a better place than most of its neighbours within the eurozone where inflation reached 6.1 percent year-on-year in May, Eurostat figures showed.
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With barely three weeks until the July 23rd general election, inflation tumbled by more than one percentage point in June, reaching 1.9 percent year-on-year, down from 3.2 percent a month earlier, figures from the National Statistics Institute (INE) showed.
The result offered fresh hope to Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who has repeatedly flagged the results of his economic policy in order to gain ground in the polls where his Socialists are tailing the right-wing Popular Party (PP).
The preliminary figure brings Spanish inflation in line with the two percent target set by the European Central Bank for the eurozone.
Sánchez's left-wing coalition government has implemented a series of measures to bring down inflation which hit a record 10.8 percent in July 2022, its highest level since 1985.
Using the ECB's preferred yardstick, known as the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP), Spanish inflation stood at 1.6 percent, or 1.3 points lower than the May figure of 2.9 percent.
Core inflation, which is seasonally adjusted and excludes energy, fell by 0.2 points to 5.9 percent year-on-year.
Sánchez's government has rolled out a raft of budgetary measures to bolster the purchasing power of households that have been hard hit by inflation, which last year reached an average of 8.4 percent.
At the end of December, the government axed VAT on a range of basic foodstuffs in a measure that was extended this week until the year's end.
The move raised to almost €50 billion ($54.57 billion) the overall amount released by Spain's government to help those struggling with soaring inflation and runaway food and energy prices.
The June inflation rate puts Spain in a better place than most of its neighbours within the eurozone where inflation reached 6.1 percent year-on-year in May, Eurostat figures showed.
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