The increase in the price of the shopping basket slows down in April despite the rise in inflation to 4.1% and the pressure of the drought

April brought a little relief to the pocket of consumers. Despite the rise in inflation to 4.1%, the growth rate of food prices slowed in the fourth month of 2023 by more than 3.5 points to 12.9%. This is clear from the final data published this Friday by the National Statistics Institute (INE), which confirm the rebound in the general CPI after the fall in March despite the moderation of core inflation.

In this way, the annual variation rate of the CPI scales 4.1 tenths with respect to the inflation data for March, when prices suffered a notable deceleration to 3.3% due to the effect of the war in Ukraine, since the comparison with March 2022 -first full month of conflict- is favorable. After the invasion of Ukraine, the price of energy skyrocketed due to uncertainty about the Russian supply.

However, underlying inflation -which excludes the price of energy products and unprocessed food- moderated to 6.6%, compared to 7.5% in March, always in year-on-year terms. And that despite the fact that the drought is putting pressure on food prices. Farmers talk that the current one is being one of the worst harvests in recent years and warn that the most affected products will foreseeably be cereals, fruit and vegetables, as well as oil and meat.

The European Commission forecasts that in 2023 inflation in Spain will stand at an average of 4.4%, below the community average, which it estimates at 6.4%. For next year, the Brussels forecast maintains the path of price moderation, with an inflation forecast of 2.3% in 2024.

More information soon…