Madrid (EFE).- The inflation rate has increased to 4.1% in April, eight tenths more than in March (3.3%), due to the fact that the decrease in electricity prices has been less than the registered in the same month of 2022 and the increase in fuel prices, which fell in April of the previous year.
In the opposite direction, the behavior of food and non-alcoholic beverages stands out, whose prices increase less this month than in April 2022, according to advance data from the consumer price index (CPI) published this Friday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE). ).
As regards core inflation -the general index excluding unprocessed food and energy products-, it fell 9 tenths in April, to 6.6%.
General inflation has not risen so much in a month since May 2022, details the INE, which indicates that in a monthly rate, prices rise by 0.6% compared to the month of March.
As for the harmonized rate, it stood at 3.8% in April –seven tenths higher- and the estimated monthly variation is 0.5%.
Inflation rebounds due to the base effect, says the Government
From the Ministry of Economic Affairs they have explained that general inflation has rebounded as expected “due to the base effect, when compared with the month in which the fuel bonus and the rest of the measures of the decree of 29 March 2022”.
However, they have highlighted that the general CPI rate is “half” of that registered a year earlier, and that “the set of measures adopted last December will continue to help dampen the evolution of inflation”.
With regard to underlying inflation, the same sources have commented that “it dropped almost one point in April due to the slowdown in food prices.”
This inflationary episode began in the summer of 2021 mainly due to the increase in global energy demand following the pandemic, but it did not reach its maximum rate of 10.8% until July. Since then, it has started a downward trend that has only been interrupted slightly in the months of January, February and now in April.
The definitive inflation data, as well as the evolution by groups, will be known on May 12.