Eric Core inflation hit a new record despite efforts put in place by the government to contain the country’s CPI index, the state-owned National Statistics Institute (INE) reported on Tuesday.
In Spain, core inflation climbed to 7.6% in February, one-tenth of a percentage point more than the Consumer Price Index recorded in January and its highest level since December 1986.
On Tuesday, the consumers association OCU demanded “an urgent and substantial increase in the amount of a €200 allowance (recently approved by Madrid) for vulnerable households, as well as in the number of beneficiaries,” while calling the left-wing executive to approve a temporary full exception of VAT (0%) on meat and fish.
“This latest increase (of the CPI) places a large number of basic products at prices that are difficult for many households to afford,” OCU stressed in a press release.
But according to Rubén Sánchez, the secretary general of the consumers association Facua, the government’s extraordinary measures aimed at lowering VAT are “absolutely insufficient.”
Inflation in Spain saw a year-on-year increase of 6% in February, one-tenth of a percentage point more compared with January and one-tenth less than INE had predicted. This is due to the quick rise in electricity prices and a “historic rise in food prices, of 16.6%”, INE added.
The government approved a wide range of measures with the aim of containing skyrocketing prices, among them a reduction, and in some cases, the exception of VAT on some basic products.
However, in February, food prices were the highest they had ever been since 1994. The biggest increases in the year-on-year rate were for sugar (52.6 %), butter (39.1 %), sauces and seasoning (33.8 %), olive oil (33.5 %) and milk (33.2 %), INE reported.
Municipal elections will be held on 28 May, with general elections due in December.
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