In August, the Canary Islands saw a slight contraction of 0.1% in the annual Consumer Price Index (CPI), bringing it down to 3.5%, according to the latest data released by the National Statistics Institute (INE). Despite this overall decline, food prices in the region were notably higher, showing an increase of 12.6% compared to the same period last year.
Various sectors showed disparate trends in pricing. Housing costs saw the most significant reduction, plummeting by 14.9%. In contrast, other categories exhibited increases on an annual basis: alcoholic beverages and tobacco prices rose by 5.6%, leisure and culture by 5.3%, hotels, cafes, and restaurants by 7.7%, medicines by 2.3%, communications by 4.3%, household goods by 4%, education by 3%, clothing and footwear by a mere 0.1%, and transport by 0.6%.
The Canary Islands, along with Extremadura, stood out as the only two Spanish regions that recorded a fall in the annual CPI rate, both contracting by 0.1% in August compared to July figures. Meanwhile, the national CPI rate rose from 2.3% to 2.6%.
Furthermore, this marks the second consecutive month that inflation has increased nationally, with a 0.4 percentage point bump recorded in July, taking it to 2.3%. Interestingly, despite the general upward trend, some costs rose less significantly this August compared to the same month last year, particularly in the sectors of electricity and accommodation services. This contrasts sharply with the rising fuel prices highlighted in the statistics.
