The inflation rate fell slightly to 9.3% in June from 9.6% in May, the National Statistics Institute (INS) announced on Wednesday 5 July 2023. This is the fourth consecutive month of decrease.
This fall in inflation, despite the monthly increase, is due to the slowdown in the rate of price increases between June and May this year, compared with the same period last year.
In particular, the rate of increase for the group ‘Food’ fell from 0.5% to -0.1%, the rate of increase for the group ‘Furniture, household equipment and routine household maintenance’ went down from 1.7% to 0.8% and the rate of increase for the group ‘Recreation and culture’ dropped from 1.1% to 0.7%.
In June 2023, food prices went up 15.2% compared to the previous year. This increase was mainly due to the prices of sheep meat rising by 36.3%, poultry meat by 28.4%, eggs by 27.5%, edible oils by 21.8% and beef by 21.3%.
Meanwhile, over a year, the price of industrial goods rose by 8%, due to a 6.8% increase in the price of building materials, a 9.7% increase in the price of clothing and a 9.4% rise in the price of household care products.
Over the year as a whole, prices for industrial goods rose by 8%, driven by a 6.8% rise in the price of construction materials, a 9.7% rise in the price of clothing and a 9.4% rise in the price of household goods.
In services, the 6.4% increase was mainly due to a 10.3% rise in the price of restaurants, cafés and hotels, a 16.9% rise in the price of public and private transport and a 20.7% rise in the price of financial services, while the underlying rate (excluding food and energy) fell to 7.4% from 7.5% in the previous month. Prices of unregulated (unfettered) products rose by 10.7% year-on-year, while prices of regulated products rose by 4.9%. Unregulated food rose by 17.8%, compared with 0.8% for food with regulated prices.
