In December, Spain experienced an uptick in inflation, consistent with preliminary estimates, fueled primarily by transportation expenses, according to revised figures from the INE, the national statistics office.
Consumer price inflation escalated to 2.8% from 2.4% in November, marking the highest rate since July. Similarly, the EU harmonized inflation rate rose from 2.4% to 2.8%, mirroring the peak last observed in July when it reached 2.9%.
Core inflation, which excludes volatile items like food and energy, increased to 2.6% from the previous month's 2.4%. This upsurge was largely attributed to rising costs in the transportation sector and in leisure and cultural activities, with transportation costs climbing 0.6% and leisure and culture seeing a 3.2% increase.
On a month-by-month basis, consumer price inflation surpassed projections by rising to 0.5% from November's 0.2%. The statistical office had earlier forecasted a monthly inflation rate of 0.4%. Concurrently, the harmonized index recorded a monthly growth of 0.4%, as predicted, after stagnating in the prior month.
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