This is particularly relevant given the slowing inflation V Agreement on Employment and Collective Bargaining (AENC)achieved by business and trade union organizations, which establishes a framework for setting salary increases in the period 2023-2025, which creates confidence and helps avoid an inflationary spiral.
According to data published by the INE, general inflation rose to 4.1% in April, eight tenths more than in March, while core inflation appears to have finally reached a level Turning point and it slows by nine tenths to 6.6%.
In addition to the fall in prices for energy products and the weakening of prices for industrial goods that have already been observed in recent months, this month there will be lower inflation in Food ingredients of the CPI, a trend that is expected to continue in the coming months.
In a European comparison, the harmonized CPI for April reached a value of 3.8%, compared to 7% in the monetary union, making the inflation difference in Spain the lowest at 3.2 percentage points.
Disaggregated analysis
Within the underlying component, prices for services fell by a tenth on an annual basis to 4.3%, while prices for industrial goods excluding energy products fell by 1.1 percentage points to 4.8%. For processed food, beverages and tobacco, the interim annual rate will be reduced by more than 2 percentage points to 14.2%.
The prices for unprocessed food, for their part, show one remarkable moderation, with the interannual fluctuation rate falling by almost 5 points to 8.8%. However, for many foods the rates are still above 10%.
Energy prices
Energy product prices decreased to 15.6% year-on-year, compared to the 25.6% decline in the previous month. This is due to both the smaller drop in the price of energy raw materials in April and the step effect, which means that the 20 cent per liter fuel cut will come into effect from April 2022.
However, energy product prices are expected to change later this year significant declines These setbacks are slightly put into perspective by the withdrawal of this discount compared to 2022.
In April, oil prices rose to an average of $86 a barrel as OPEC+ announced it would cut production starting in May. Nevertheless, the price fell by 17.8% in dollars and 18.9% in euros year-on-year.
So far in the month of May, the price resumed its downward trend, reaching an average price of $77.7 per barrel in the first few days, a decrease of 31.8% in U.S. dollars and 34.2% year-on-year . in Euro.
