MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish consumer prices rose slightly in July from a year earlier, the second increase in a row as the economy strengthened and retailers and hotels hiked their charges.
According to data from the National Statistics Institute (INE), the index rose only 0.1 percent in July from a year earlier, in keeping with weak inflation levels in the rest of the euro zone.
Falling oil prices are weighing heavily on consumer prices. The European Central Bank has made little headway in boosting inflation so far, despite a bond-buying stimulus scheme.
But in Spain, economists have pointed to rising trends in core inflation, which strips out volatile elements such as energy.
By this measure, prices were up 0.8 percent year-on-year, after a 0.6 percent rise in June.
"It's the (economic) recovery helping," said Estefania Ponte, research director at BNP Paribas (PARIS:BNPP) Personal Investors in Madrid. "Everything related to consumption, such as leisure and culture, or hotel and restaurant prices, is improving."
Businesses were starting to raise their prices, Ponte said.
The prices of package holidays were up from a year ago in July, INE said. Hotel, cafe and restaurant prices were up 0.9 percent year-on-year in July when the summer tourism season got underway.
Prices of shoes and clothing also rose from a year earlier.
Overall, national prices came in slightly better than expected. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast they would be flat after an annual 0.1 percent rise in June.
Spanish European Union-harmonised prices were flat from a year earlier, ahead of a preliminary reading released at the end of July.