This development in inflation in April (the rise in prices compared to the same month last year) was mainly due to the fall in gas, electricity and fuel prices, according to the INE.

The underlying inflation rate (excluding energy and fresh food products, traditionally the most volatile in the shopping basket) rose by four tenths this month in Spain, to 2.4 per cent.

As for the chain evolution (comparison with the previous month), prices rose by 0.6 per cent in Spain in April compared with March. Inflation in Spain fell in April for the second month running, after rising since September 2024.

At the end of September 2024, Spain ended zero VAT on some foodstuffs and by the end of last year had restored all the normal amounts of this consumption tax, thus ending almost three years of extraordinary measures to control inflation.

The Spanish government adopted packages to respond to rising prices after the first half of 2022 saw some of the highest figures in the European Union (EU) and in July of that year the highest inflation in the country since 1984 (10.77 per cent).