By Ed Frankl
Spanish inflation cooled this month, ending a three-month run of accelerating prices, likely reassuring policymakers at the European Central Bank after it cut interest rates earlier this month.
Consumer prices rose 3.5% on year in June, according to EU-harmonized figures published by Spain's national statistics agency INE on Friday, cooling from 3.8% in May. That matched economists' expectations, according to a Wall Street Journal poll.
The fall in fuel prices, and to a lesser extent food, drove the drop in inflation, INE said.
However, the rate is still higher than the ECB's 2% target. Spain saw annual inflation fall as low as 1.6% last year, but it has been above 2% since July 2023.
By national standards, Spain's inflation rate dropped to 3.4% in June from 3.6% in May, while core inflation--which strips out more volatile food and energy prices--held at 3.0%.
Write to Ed Frankl at edward.frankl@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
06-28-24 0323ET
