Prices in all Spanish regions increased in December compared with the same month in 2018. The Consumer Prices Index shows that the highest increases were in the Balearics and Castile-La Mancha. There was a one per cent rise in the Balearics, whereas nationally the figure was 0.8%.
A 4.5% increase in transport prices and a 3.1% rise in respect of hotels, cafés and restaurants were key elements in the Balearics in December. By contrast, there was a 4.9% reduction in household prices.
Compared with November, the overall price increase was up 0.6%. Responding to the rising cost of living, the president of the Confederation of Balearic Business Associations (CAEB), Carmen Planas, said on Wednesday that new measures are needed in order to increase productivity which in turn can increase salaries.
Nevertheless, the CAEB noted that there was an average 0.5% increase in prices in 2019, while there was an average 0.3% rise in salaries for the first nine months of the year, suggesting that household spending power could recover.