Gasoline, electricity and telephone increased prices by one tenth in April, to -0.6%. The CPI moderated its year-on-year rate once again, registering its third consecutive rise after the increases in February and March 2015.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.9% in April compared to the previous month and increased its interannual rate by one tenth, to -0.6%, due to telephone services and the rise in prices of the gasoline and electricity, as reported on Wednesday by the National Statistics Institute (INE), thus confirming the interannual data that advanced two weeks ago.

Despite this, with the April data, the interannual CPI chains its tenth negative rate. The government has ruled out that the economy is in a situation of structural deflation. Statistics have attributed the year-on-year increase in the CPI in April to the behavior of transport, which raised its rate by one tenth compared to March, to -3.4%, due to the higher cost of fuels and lubricants.

The communications group has also influenced the interannual rise in the CPI, which increased its rate by more than one point, to -3.5%, due to the stability of the prices of telephone services, compared to the decrease recorded a year earlier. , as well as the housing group, which raised its rate by one tenth, to -1.9%, because the rise in electricity prices could not fully offset the drop in gas prices.

SOURCES: La Vanguardia