Spain’s 12-month inflation slows down to 6.8% in November

(Reuters) – Spain’s consumer prices in the 12 months to November rose 6.8%, a slower pace than the previous 7.3% figure marked in October, preliminary data from the National Statistics Institute (INE) showed on Tuesday.

The reading was the lowest since January and below the 7.4% forecast by analysts polled by Reuters.

Core inflation, which strips out volatile fresh food and energy prices, was 6.3% year-on-year, slightly higher than the 6.2% recorded in October, the INE data showed.

Spain’s European Union-harmonised 12-month inflation was 6.6%, down from 7.3% in October and below the 7.5% expectation from analysts polled by Reuters.

INE attributes CPI’s evolution mainly to lower fuel and electricity prices as well as a more moderate increase in the prices of the new season of clothing and footwear as compared to 2021.

Euro area inflation is unlikely to have peaked, ECB president Christine Lagarde said on Monday, with high wholesale energy prices not yet fully costed into retail energy costs.

(Reporting by Joao Manuel Mauricio and Jakub Olesiuk in Gdansk, editing by Inti Landauro, William Maclean)