The year-on-year inflation rate in February in the Canary Islands reached 6.8%, becoming the second highest in the country, driven by the rise in food prices, which have soared by 18% in the last twelve months.
Currently, the Canary Islands have an inflation rate almost one point higher than that of Spain as a whole (6.8% compared to 6.0%) and is only exceeded by another community, Castilla-La Mancha, with 6.9%, according to data published this Monday by the National Institute of Statistics.
Last month, prices in the islands grew by an average of 1.2% compared to the previous month, driven in particular by expenses associated with housing (which include electricity), with a monthly increase of 2.9%, and food, with an increase of 2.7%.
In the Canary Islands, inflation is particularly driven upwards by food, which has risen in the islands by 18% in the last year, despite the fact that many of them have been taxed with zero IGIC for many months before the Council of Ministers reduced or eliminated VAT for this type of product for the rest of Spain.
Only in Extremadura have food prices risen more than in the islands, by 19.1%. The national average increase is 16.6%.
In the last twelve months, the most inflationary sector of the Canary Islands economy after food is hospitality and tourism with an increase of 9.5%, followed by household goods, with 7.6%; the item of other goods and services, with 5.4%; alcoholic beverages and tobacco, with 5.1%; and transport, which includes fuels, with 4.5%.
At the moment, only the housing expenses sector has lower prices than in February 2022 in the islands, which includes the electricity bill. It has fallen by 6.8%.
