(Reuters) -Spanish national consumer prices rose 8.3% year-on-year in April, according to data from the National Statistics Institute on Friday, compared with 9.8% in March and a Reuters poll forecast of 8.4%.
Core inflation, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, was at 4.4% year-on-year, up from a reading of 3.4% a month earlier and the highest rate since December 1995, data from the National Statistics Institute (INE) showed.
Spanish EU-harmonised prices rose 8.3% from a year earlier, down from 9.8% in March and in line with the Reuters forecast of 8.3%.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent pressure on energy and food markets has stoked inflation, which was already accelerating as the global economy emerged from the coronavirus pandemic.
In Spain, INE said that the cost of both food and non-alcoholic drinks in April was higher than in the previous month and a year earlier. This was driven particularly by a surge in the price of oils and fats, along with prices in hotels, cafes and restaurants and, with the resumption of tourism, the cost of package holidays.
This was mitigated by electricity prices being lower than a year before. Gas and heating fuel are now costing more than they did last year, however, it said.
INE noted that prices for cars and air passenger transportation are rising, but petrol and lubricants were cheaper in April than in March.
(Reporting by Filipe Bragança and Aislinn Laing; Editing by Bradley Perrett)
