The Consumer Price Index (CPI) maintained in October its year-on-year rise at 4.9%, a level similar to that recorded in February 2023, thereby stringing together three straight months with increases above 4%. This is evident from the final data published this Friday by the National Statistics Institute (INE), which “match the advances made at the end of last month”.
The agency details that fuels and lubricants for private vehicles exerted downward pressure on the CPI in October, in contrast with the sharp price increases they recorded in the same month of 2025. In addition, food and clothing also helped moderate the index by recording more contained price rises than in October of the previous year.
However, this moderating effect was offset by the performance of holiday packages, whose prices fell less than in October 2025, and by gas, which recorded increases higher than those from a year ago.
In detail, the group of food and non-alcoholic beverages set its annual variation at 2.4% in October, three tenths lower than that of September, mainly because prices for fruit and nuts with shells increased less than in the same period of the previous year.
The clothing and footwear section also reduced its year-on-year rate by three tenths, to 1.8%, while transport marked 10.3%, two tenths less than the previous month, due to the drop in prices for fuels and lubricants for personal vehicles.
On the other hand, the housing group raised its year-on-year rate by four tenths, to 7.6%, driven by the higher cost of gas. At the same time, leisure activities, sport and culture increased its rate to 4.1%, five tenths more, due to the performance of holiday packages.
Core inflation remains at 3.1%
According to Statistics, “core inflation (excluding unprocessed food products and energy products) held steady in October at 3.1%, standing 1.8 percentage points below the headline index”. With this, this indicator continues at levels similar to those of March 2024.
On a month-on-month basis (October versus September), the CPI rose by 0.6%, three tenths more than the previous month. With this increase, monthly inflation already adds up to nine consecutive months of increases.
The monthly increase in prices is explained, above all, by the clothing and footwear group, which rose by 7.9% with the start of the autumn-winter season; by food, which raised its prices by 1.2% due to the surge in fruit and nuts and, to a lesser extent, vegetables, legumes and potatoes and of fish and shellfish; and by housing, which recorded a monthly rate of 1.3% due to the increase in electricity and gas.