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The spiral of prices that the Spanish economy has experienced since 2022 has managed to put control the stratospheric increases that have impacted the purchasing power of families and companies, but it has not managed to close 2024 with inflation completely under control. The cost of living has risen by 2.8% this year, according to the preliminary figure for December published by Spain's INE national statistics institute as it finalises this year's economic statistics.
That figure of 2.8% up reflects the ups and downs of prices this year that has been marked by the continued decline in the rate of inflation over the last 12 months. In fact, the figure for the end of 2024 is 0.8 tenths of a percentage point lower than inflation was at in 2023 when it closed at around 3.6%. This leaves well behind the record increases of such as 2022, when prices rose by more than 8%, and also the peaks of up to 11% in the midst of the crisis resulting from Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the economic fallout from that.
So much for the A-side of the economic situation as the B-side is that prices rose again this December at a rate of 0.4 tenths of a percentage point compared with the previous month. On this occasion the cost of living has increased due to the rise in fuel prices in recent weeks, the volatility of the electricity tariff and then also the so-called 'step effect', the name given to the significant drop-off in inflation in December last year and which is not the case now.
In more detail the average price of a litre of diesel has remained at 1.43 euros this week after six weeks of price increases at the pump, according to data from the European Commission's weekly Oil Bulletin published by Europa Press. For its part, the average price of a litre of petrol, which last week resumed its upward trend, has returned to a price of 1.51 euros this week. Therefore petrol prices are at their highest level since the second week of September, while for diesel you have to go back to the beginning of the same month to find a price higher than the current one.
In short, December is on track to be the most expensive month of the year. On 12 December the price of electricity reached its highest daily average of the year at 146.67 euros/MWh, closely followed by the next day's prices (13th), when it reached 143.73 euros/MWh. In total, 18 days in December have registered daily prices above 100 euros/MWh, making this month the most expensive of 2024 for electricity supplies to Spanish households.
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