Inflation surprise

SPAIN'S inflation rate in March clocked in at 3.3% according to preliminary figures from the National Statistics Institute. That's down on February's figure of 6% and is attributed to falls in electricity and fuel prices and the big hikes recorded in March 2022 working their way out of the system.

Google broke Spain’s competition laws by abusing its dominant market position and hindering free competition.

The CNMC investigation will last for up to 18 months and was prompted by a 2021 complaint from the Spanish Reproduction Rights Centre

BUDGET airline Vueling has been hit with a €30,000 fine in a landmark decision over discrimination between female and male cabin crews. The penalty was imposed by Catalunya’s Labour Inspectorate after a complaint from the Stavla cabin crew union.

Barcelona-based Vueling - part of the IAG group - is studying the ruling and has the right to appeal.

It’s the first-such adjudication in Spain over cabin crews with the Inspectorate saying that Vueling committed a ‘very serious infraction’ by forcing female employees to wear heels and make up while their male colleagues only required ‘a clean and groomed appearance’.

(CEDRO) - a group representing writers and publishers.

CEDRO legal director, Javier Diaz de Olarte, said: “Google has not treated press publishers in an appropriate way un- der competition rules or in the same manner as other similar companies operating in the market.”

The complaint talks about protecting intellectual property rights and asserts that Google is threatening the ‘plurality, independence, and freedom of the press’ in Spain

The CNMC did not specify the period to be covered by the probe, nor what sanctions Google could face if it is proven the company abused its strong market position in the country.

The European Union and several member states have taken steps to stop companies like Google from hindering competition, as well as tax avoidance on profits made from accessing news articles.

The March inflation rate is the lowest annual figure since August 2021 and has confounded predictions from economists who projected a rate of around 3.8%.

Angel Talavera, chief economist for Europe at Oxford Economics, said: “This should not make us believe that inflationary tensions are over.”

“Core and food prices will remain high, and in addition, the large fall in energy prices in the last months of last year will cause the opposite effect to that of March on the inflation rate in the last months of 2023,” he added.

Core inflation, which does not include variable fresh food and energy prices, was 7.5% year-on-year, slightly below the 7.6% recorded in February.

It’s the first drop - albeit marginal - in the core rate in 23 months.

Food prices are the main issue for most people in Spain with the last stripped-out figure reporting a 16.6% annual rate in February.

The Bank of Spain has predicted that food inflation will remain in double digits for the rest of 2023 with the annual rate in December predicted to be 12.2% before falling to an average rate of 4.6% next year.