The Consumer Price Index registered a 1.3% rise in March compared to the same month last year due to the rebound in electricity and fuels, according to the index confirmed this Wednesday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE).
The March rate, a strong change in trend after the negative figures for 2020, is the highest in the general index since April 2019 and rises by 1.3 points from February, when prices remained stable.
In monthly evolution, March compared to February, prices rose 1% driven by the price of electricity, fuel and clothing and footwear, which with an increase of 4.4% reflected the behaviour of prices at the beginning of the spring-summer season.
In the evolution of the annual rate, the INE details that the two groups that increased the most were transport and housing. In the first, prices rose 3.8% due to the rise in fuels and lubricants for personal transport, which fell the previous year.
Regarding housing, with a rate of 4.3%, it reflected the rise in the prices of electricity and, to a lesser extent, diesel for heating, compared to the decreases in March 2020. Last year, with the Outbreak of the pandemic in March, energy prices were among those with the greatest decreases.
Faced with this, the annual rate fell in communications prices, while the increase in food slowed down to 1.4%.
Core inflation – excluding non-processed food and energy products – remained at 0.3% in March, one point below that of the general CPI.
