Spain Flash Inflation Holds at 4.9% in October: Core Rate Steady at 3.1% as Cheaper Fuel Offsets Holidays and Gas
Spain's National Statistics Institute (INE) said on October 30 that its flash estimate put annual consumer price inflation at 4.9% in October 2026, unchanged from September, with the annual rate of core inflation also steady at 3.1%.
Consumer prices rose 0.6% from September. The INE said the main downward influence on the annual rate came from fuels and lubricants for private vehicles, whose prices fell more sharply than in October 2025; food and non-alcoholic beverages and clothing also rose, but less than a year earlier.
Pushing the other way, package holiday prices fell by less than in October last year, gas prices rose more than a year ago, and liquid fuel prices rose compared with the fall recorded in the same month of the previous year.
On the harmonised EU measure (HICP), the flash annual rate eased one tenth to 4.9%, from 5.0% in September; core inflation on the HICP basis stood at 3.1%, and the monthly HICP variation was 0.5%.
The figures are a flash estimate — an advance on the final data to be published next month. The full release is available from the INE flash estimate of the CPI, October 2026.
Spain's inflation holding at a high level contrasts with mixed readings elsewhere in the euro area: France's flash inflation rose to 3.4% in October, its highest since December 2023, while the euro area unemployment rate held at 6.5% in September.
Related: France Flash Inflation Rises to 3.4% in October, Highest Since December 2023
Related: Euro Area Unemployment Holds at 6.5% in September
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: El Rastro market, Madrid (CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
