Inflation in Spain rose for the fourth consecutive month, reaching 3% in February, marking a 0.1% increase from January's figures, as confirmed by the National Institute of Statistics (INE) on March 14, 2025. This current inflation rate is one percentage point above the 2% target set by the European Central Bank (ECB), which aims to maintain price stability across the eurozone.

The Bank of Spain has articulated that a medium-term inflation target of 2% is essential for sustaining this stability, indicating that Spain is currently experiencing a level of inflation that exceeds this benchmark.

A significant factor contributing to this rise is attributed to the increase in electricity prices, which returned to a Value Added Tax (VAT) of 21% on January 1, 2025, after being reduced to 10% for the prior year.

The Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry, led by Minister Carlos Cuerpo, acknowledged that the rise in February's inflation is primarily due to higher electricity costs.

Additionally, the housing sector saw an annual price increase of 9.8%, partly driven by electricity prices, which surged by 28.1% compared to February 2024. Meanwhile, the prices of fuels and lubricants for personal vehicles contributed to a decrease in February's inflation, reflecting a smaller increase than recorded during the same month of the previous year.

This change reduced the annual transport group inflation rate to 0.3%.

Food and non-alcoholic beverages also experienced a rise, with their annual inflation rate increasing by four tenths to 2.2%.

Over the past year, other notable price increases included chocolate (+24.1%), jewelry and costume jewelry (+22.5%), passenger maritime transport (+16.9%), and other oils (+16.7%).

Conversely, the largest annual price reductions were seen in olive oil (-32.3%), railway passenger transport (-16.1%), sugar (-15.2%), metro transport (-9.4%), and mobile phone equipment (-9.2%).

Monthly comparisons showed a 0.4% rise in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) from January to February, marking five consecutive months of increases.

This short-term rise was mainly influenced by higher prices in the hotels, cafés, and restaurants sector (+0.7%) due to increased costs associated with hospitality services and accommodation, alongside a 0.6% rise attributed to transportation costs driven by more expensive fuels and maintenance.

In contrast, clothing and footwear prices decreased by 1.5% in February as a result of winter sales.

Notably, hotel and hostel prices rose sharply by 7.3%, and domestic flight costs increased by 6.9%, while oil prices showed a significant monthly decline of 8.7%, despite a cumulative increase of 97.1% since January 2021.