The Competitiveness Guarantee Index (IGC) raised its year-on-year rate to 0.03% in August, ending a streak of 19 consecutive months of declines. This is derived from the data released this Monday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE), the body responsible for calculating and publishing the IGC monthly.
The IGC sets a price revision rate aligned with the improvement of the competitiveness of the Spanish economy against the eurozone.
This rate is determined based on the Harmonized Consumer Price Index (IPCA) of the Economic and Monetary Union (UEM), from which a part of the competitiveness loss accumulated by Spain since 1999 is subtracted.
When the variation of the index is below 0%, this value is used as a reference, which in practice means applying the no revision rule.
On the other hand, when the variation rate of the IGC exceeds the medium-term annual inflation target of the European Central Bank, set at 2%, this 2% is adopted as the reference value. This aims for contracts linked to this indicator to help preserve the competitiveness of the Spanish economy in the medium term.
The IGC started 2024 at 0.17% and then moved into negative territory, recording only two positive months, July and December, and marking its largest decline of 2024 in September, with -0.45%. At the beginning of 2025, it returned to negative rates, with declines in all twelve months of the year, and in 2026, after seven consecutive months of drops, it returned to positive values in August.