Palma.The prices in the Balearic Islands remained stable last month in comparison with the previous month of October but rose 3.2 percent when comparing October this year with the same month in 2011, the National Institute of Statistics said yesterday with reference to the Cost of Living Index (IPC).
The year-on-year price rise registered in the Balearics in October is three decimal points higher than the price rise in Spain as a whole over the same period, 2.9%.
Meanwhile, inflation over the first ten months of 2012 in the Balearics has been 3.1% in comparison with January to October 2011. The accumulated inflation rate in Spain has been 2.8%.
Referring specifically to October, the IPC in Spain fell to 0.1% whilst underlying annual inflation - which excludes the variation in prices of fresh food and energy - fell two decimal points to 2.3%, six less than the general inflation rate.
November variations
Prices fell in November in 10 regions of the country whilst they went up in 5 others and remained stable in two. The greatest downturns were registered in the Canary Islands and Madrid, as well as in the Spanish city of Melilla in North Africa where the percentage rate dropped by -0.3 percent. According to the IPC, in Spain as a whole, the monthly variation of the general inflation index was -0.1%, while the annual variation rate was 2.9%, six decimal points less than that registered the previous month.
Apart from the Canary Islands, Madrid and Melilla, prices also fell in Castilla-La Mancha, Catalonia and Extremadura (all of them by -0.2%), in the case of Andalucia, Aragon, Castilla y Leon, Valencia, Galicia and the Spanish city of Ceuta in North Africa, the downturn was -0.1 percent, the same as in Spain as a whole.
At the other end of the scale, prices rose in Asturias, Cantabria, Murcia and Navarre (by 0.2 percent), in La Rioja by 0.1 percent, and remained stable in the Balearic Islands and the Basque Country.
Year on year rates
In terms of the year-on-year rate (over the past 12 months), prices rose in all regions of the country, to the greatest extent in Catalonia (up 3.6 percent), and Cantabria (+3.5%) as well as in the Balearics (+3.2%) and Castilla y Leon (3.1%).
Regions where the year-on-year rate was the same as for Spain as a whole (2.9%) were Valencia, Extremadura, Murcia, Navarre and La Rioja.
There were lesser increases in Madrid (+2.8%); Aragon, Asturias, Castilla-La Mancha, Galicia and the Basque Country, all with +2.7%; along with Andalucia and the Canary Islands (both with 2.6%), and the Spanish cities of Ceuta and Melilla with 2.3 and 1.6% respectively.
Figures are produced by the INE as part of Central Government reporting.