Jan 30 (Reuters) - Higher energy prices drove up Spain's European Union-harmonised 12-month inflation rate to 2.9% in January, preliminary data from the National Statistics Institute (INE) showed on Thursday.
The 12-month rate was slightly higher than the 2.8% rate in the entirety of 2024 and also higher than the 2.8% expected by analysts polled by Reuters.
INE attributed the increase mainly to fuel prices, which rose in January - they fell in the same month a year ago - and, to a lesser extent, an electricity price increase.
Core inflation, which strips out volatile fresh food and energy prices, was 2.4% year-on-year, down from 2.6% a month earlier, INE data showed.
Spain's 12-month national inflation rose to 3.0%, up from 2.8% in December. Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast a 2.9% rate.
Spain's annual inflation rate has picked up in recent months after having eased to 1.5% in September, and is now above the rate of the 20-nation euro zone as a whole.
Reporting by Joao Manuel Mauricio in Gdansk, editing by Inti Landauro and Mark Heinrich
Source: Reuters