Food prices pushing up inflation. | Europa Press

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Figures published by the National Statistics Institute (INE) on Monday point to a 5.6% rise in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in November. This is by comparison with November 2020, and it is up by 0.2% from the year-on-year rise in October and is the highest since September 1992.

Electricity prices, which have been a key inflationary factor, have dropped, but rises in food prices and, to a lesser extent, prices for vehicle fuels and lubricants are behind the latest CPI increase. In November 2020, these prices went down.

The INE also indicates that core inflation, which does not include the price of food or energy, is 1.7% in November, three tenths more than in October but almost four points below the general CPI.

The rise in prices has accelerated as the year has progressed. The year-on-year CPI rate was 0.5% in January and was unchanged in February. Since then, the increases have been 1.3% in March; 2.2% April; 2.7% May; 2.7% June; 2.9% July; 3.3% August; 4% September; 5.4% October. The figures contrast with those of 2020, when negative rates were recorded in nine of the twelve months of the year.