The consumer price index (CPI) in Canary Islands has remained at 4.9% in May, after falling 0.6% compared to April when it stood at 5.5%, according to the National Institute of Statistics (INE), and is approaching the levels immediately prior to the start of the war in Ukraine, when inflation was high, but had not yet skyrocketed.
Except in March of this year when the index marked 4.6%, inflation had not fallen below 5% in the Canary Islands since November 2021, and reached its maximum in August of last year when it marked 9.5%.
However, it is still well above the national average, which stands at 3.2% year-on-year, nine tenths lower than the rate recorded in April.
The reduction in prices at the national level is due to the fall in the price of fuel and the lower increase in food and non-alcoholic beverages, while in the Canary Islands, food and non-alcoholic beverages have increased by 13.4% and the price of housing has fallen by 7.9% in year-on-year terms.
Of the nine tenths of decrease in the general inflation rate, six tenths were a consequence of the 3.7% fall in the transport group due to the decrease in fuel prices, while another two tenths were caused by the food group, whose increase moderated to 12% year-on-year, almost one point less than the previous month.
Food inflation has fallen back to the level of a year ago thanks to the fall in the price of milk, cheese and eggs, as well as the lower price of fish and seafood, and the stability of bread and cereals.
