Shopping basket becomes 8.5% more expensive in Malaga province just ahead of Christmas

The cost of filling a shopping trolley has risen by 8.5% in Malaga province, including the Costa del Sol, in November compared to last year. However, despite the grim figure, there is some positivity as the figure in October was 9.7% and for the previous 18 months the rate was in double figures.

On Thursday this week, Spain's INE national statistics institute revealed that the maximum year-on-year increase in the prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages was in February: 18.7%. Another favourable indicator is that prices have risen less in the province than in Spain as a whole, where the year-on-year increase in November was 9%. Malaga also compares well with the whole of Andalucía, where the November increase in the cost of the most basic goods was 9.2%.

But the consumer price index (CPI), continues to increase in Malaga at a faster rate than the Spanish and the Andalusian average. The general inflation of the set of products that the INE evaluates to fix the CPI seems to have greater resistance to moderation in the province than in the country and in Andalucía; the rate of price increases was 3.9% in November in Malaga, in a year-on-year comparison, compared to 3.2% for Spain as a whole and 3.5% for Andalucía last month. In November 2022, the rate of price increases in the province was 7.4%, while the national CPI stood at 6.8%.

The gap between inflation in Malaga province and that of Spain as a whole has widened again in the last month to 0.7%, a differential that was not seen since last June. During the summer and early autumn, prices in Malaga barely rose 0.5% more than in the country as a whole.

In Spain and Malaga, both summer and autumn have contributed to rising prices again. It should not be forgotten that in June inflation in Spain fell to 1.9% and in the province it stood at around 2.5% in the middle of the year. Now, the CPI sits above 3% for Spain and Malaga. In Malaga the CPI figures show that alcoholic beverages and tobacco rose 7.4% in the province, above 7.1% nationally. Fashion and footwear was 2.3% more expensive in Malaga – 0.1% more than in Spain as a whole.

Other data shows that the increase in the cost of transport in Malaga was 1.3% compared to zero rise nationally. Communication costs rose 3.6% in Malaga compared to 3.3% nationally. Costs for leisure and culture were 2.9% in Malaga compared to 2.5% nationally, and restaurants and hotels were 7.9% in the province compared to 6.1% in the country. Expenses related to housing and its supplies in Malaga dropped 5% compared to a national decrease of 5.7%.