MADRID, March 30 (Reuters) – Consumer prices in Spain rose 9.8% in March year on year, their biggest rise since May 1985, from 7.6% in February, the first estimate of inflation published by the INE, the national statistics institute.
This acceleration reflects, among other things, the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its fallout on the global economy, including the soaring prices of energy and cereals.
In Spain, the rise in prices in March was fueled primarily by electricity, fuels, food products and beverages, specifies the INE.
“It’s a bad number. A bad number that affects our economy, our society, and especially the most vulnerable,” Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told parliament.
His government on Tuesday approved a series of measures aimed at limiting the impact of soaring energy prices, for a total amount of 16 billion euros.
Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast inflation of 8% year on year.
The price index calculated according to European standards (HICP) also posted an increase of 9.8% over one year, while the consensus gave it to +8.1% after +7.6% in February.
The European Central Bank (ECB) continues to see rising inflation in the euro zone as a temporary phenomenon and its chief economist, Philip Lane, told Politico on Tuesday that it should dissipate over time.
“Our diagnosis remains fundamentally that of an imported inflation shock, it is a supply shock,” he said. “Most of this inflation will dissipate.”
The ECB, like most other central banks, is facing a complex situation involving market turbulence, accelerating inflation and the risk that the conflict in Ukraine will weigh on economic growth.
(Report Aida Pelaez-Fernandez and Emma Pinedo, French version Marc Angrand)