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Calviño: "Inflation has begun to moderate and will continue to decline in the coming months"

The inflation data for the month of August, which fell four tenths and stood at 10.4%, indicates that prices have begun to moderate. This is how the First Vice President and Minister of Economic Affairs, Nadia Calviño, sees it. "We see that inflation has begun to moderate, it will continue on that downward path in the coming months," she assured in an interview on RTVE.

Calviño has indicated that this reduction reflects the respite in fuel prices, but also "the measures that the Government has put in place" to "relieve the pockets of families", as in public transport, "which will alleviate to the middle and working class” and that “they are necessary measures to cushion the impact.”

At the same time, the vice president recalled that the peaks in inflation in recent months have coincided with the start of the war and with the gas supply cuts to Europe. For this reason, she has insisted that "uncertainty" remains and "maximum prudence is necessary because everything depends on what happens outside our borders."

Despite the moderation in inflation, the fact that the core inflation remains at 6.4% reflects that “once the inflation phenomenon kicks in”, in addition to supply chain problems, there is “an increase of production costs, which is normally transferred to a rise in core inflation and in services. This trend has to be curbed so that the Bank of Spain's forecasts are met, of returning to moderate levels of inflation in the coming year," Calviño stressed.

It has also assessed the situation of collective bargaining between employers and unions, after the support of the Second Vice President and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, to the mobilizations convened by the unions this fall. “I trust in the responsibility of all social agents as they have shown in all these years”, Calviño assured.

“Social agents have behaved with enormous responsibility. We have worked together hand in hand during the pandemic; we have made very important reforms ”, she has indicated. In the future, he asks that the agents "continue working with that responsibility." “We are going to continue working so that there is an income pact, which would give confidence to citizens and investors. I trust that everyone will rise to the occasion as they have been in recent years, ”she insisted.

Cristina G. Bolinches writes.

Inflation fell four tenths in August and stood at 10.4% due to the fall in fuel prices