Prices rose 2.4% in Catalonia in August.

BarcelonaThe consumer price index (CPI, the indicator that measures the cost of living) stood at 2.4% in Catalonia in August, three-tenths of a percentage point below the Spanish rate of 2.7%, amid softening food prices due to cheaper fruit. The National Statistics Institute (INE) confirmed this Friday the inflation figure released for all of Spain two weeks ago, as well as the underlying inflation rate (excluding energy and fresh food, the most volatile factors), which stood at 2.4% year-on-year, one-tenth of a percentage point higher than in July. Thus, the year-on-year rate in Catalonia rose one-tenth of a percentage point in August compared to the previous month.

The prices that rose the most in August in Catalonia compared to the same month a year earlier were housing (4.5%); hotels, cafes and restaurants (4.2%); alcoholic beverages and tobacco (3.8%); the other category (3.6%) and education (2.8%). On the other hand, those that grew the least were the prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages (2.3%); clothing and footwear (1.4%); medicine, and leisure and culture (1% in both categories), communications (0.8%), transport (0.6%) and household goods (0.3%).

The inflation rate in Catalonia was below the Spanish average (2.7%), which was led by Ceuta (3.5%), the Balearic Islands and the Valencian Community (3.2% both), while La Rioja and Murcia (2.1% both) saw the lowest growth, compared to the Canary Islands (2.2%).

Although inflation in Catalonia and especially in Spain clearly exceeds the European Central Bank's (ECB) target of keeping price growth at around 2%, the governor of the Bank of Spain, José Luis Escrivá, sees this objective as feasible. Escrivá stated this Friday that inflation, both in Spain and Europe, will stabilize at around 2% in the coming years, meeting the ECB's target.

He announced this in an interview on RNE (National Radio), in which he declined to specify the Bank of Spain's economic forecasts, which will be released next Tuesday. In the organization's latest projections, published last June, the Bank of Spain cut its growth forecast for Spanish gross domestic product (GDP) in 2025 by three-tenths to 2.4%. It also lowered its estimate for 2026 by one-tenth to 1.8%, amid a context marked by future global uncertainties.

Union concern

However, rising prices continue to worry unions. UGT and CCOO acknowledged this Friday that the evolution of the CPI has allowed workers to recover some purchasing power, but they insist that wage increases must reflect the reality of the cost of living, which has skyrocketed due to rising housing prices.

"The lower average inflation in 2025 allows us to recover purchasing power in agreed wages," notes CCOO, although it regrets that "the CPI does not reflect the full rise in the cost of living, as it does not include the cost of purchasing housing, the price of which has skyrocketed." Furthermore, this union emphasizes that "business margins remain at historic highs at the expense of wages," and that it is therefore urgent that detailed information from the Margins Observatory be provided in the negotiation tables of collective agreements.

For its part, the UGT has indicated that "working people are gaining purchasing power, which has a positive impact on household consumption and, therefore, on production and employment," although the rise in the price of housing and rent has continued to rise to represent a proportion of wages "such as. Thus, it considers it necessary to incorporate "a housing cost indicator into collective bargaining so that wage increases better reflect the reality of the cost of living" and believes that "it is essential to begin negotiations for a new Employment and Collective Bargaining Agreement (AENC) this autumn."