Inflation rose again in March to 5.9%, up from 5.7% in February, according to the National Statistics Institute (INS). This is the first increase since June 2024.
Coinciding with the month of Ramadan, a month of consumption par excellence, the INS explains that food inflation reached 7.8%, compared with 7% in February, while that of clothing and footwear rose from 9.7% to 11.7%.
On a year-on-year basis, food prices rose by 7.8%. This was mainly due to higher prices for lamb (+21.9%), fresh vegetables (+20%), fresh fruit (+15%), fresh fish (+14.1%) and poultry (+13.9%). In contrast, prices of edible oil fell by 19.9%.
On a year on year basis, industrial goods rose by 5.6%, led by an 11.7% increase for clothing and footwear and a 4.7% rise for household goods.
In the services sector, prices rose by 4.7 % on the year, mainly due to an 11.3 % increase in the prices of services in the “restaurants, cafés and hotels” group.
In March 2025, the core inflation rate (excluding food and energy) remained stable at 5.7%. The unregulated (free) products rose by 7.2% year on year, while the price of regulated products rose by 1.6%.
Unregulated food spiked by 8.7%, compared to 1.1% for priced-controlled products.
