Spain’s inflation rate picked up for the second straight month in July on the back of higher electricity prices, preliminary data showed Wednesday.
Consumer price rises in the European Union’s fourth-largest economy rose by 2.7 percent on an annual basis, up from the 2.3 percent rate registered in June, the national statistics institute INE said.
That it its highest rate since February when prices rose by 3.0 percent.
The rise was mainly driven by an increase in electricity prices, which had falled in July 2024, and, to a lesser extent, to a rise in fuel prices, which were higher than in the same month of the previous year, the agency said in a statement.
Spanish inflation has been fluctuating for several months.
The Bank of Spain predicts it will hit 2.5 percent for the whole of 2025, above the European Central Bank’s two percent target.
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© Agence France-Presse
