As demonstrated by the provisional data released by Eurostat on Friday, January 6, the eurozone is slowly winning its battle against inflation, with Spain leading the way. According to their figures for December, inflation in the zone fell by almost one point, down to an average rate of 9.2 per cent.
Spain closed the year as the country with the lowest rate, 3.6 points below the European average, at 5.6 per cent. According to the provisional data, Spain cut the year-on-year inflation rate by 1.1 points, compared with 6.7 per cent in November.
The fall in the eurozone was somewhat smaller, at 0.9 points, falling from an average of 10.1 per cent in November to 9.2 per cent in December.
Luxembourg, France and Malta follow behind Spain, with rates of 6.2 per cent, 6.7 per cent and 7.3 per cent respectively. By contrast, those with the highest figures in the last month of the year were Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, with rates of 20.7 per cent, 20.0 per cent and 17.5 per cent respectively.
Energy – as expected – is the most expensive product category, although the price increase of 25.7 per cent in December is a drop of almost ten points compared to the 34.9 per cent recorded in November.
Next on the list of product prices are processed food, alcohol, and tobacco, with a year-on-year inflation rate of 13.8 per cent, compared with 13.6 per cent in November.
Spain’s current position as the country with the cheapest inflation rate is relevant to it being less reliant on Russian energy than most European economies. Moreover, the gas price cap that operates on the Iberian Peninsula between Spain and Portugal, has contributed to these lower prices to a greater extent than in other countries, as reported by 20minutos.es.
Source : EuoroWeekly
