MADRID (Reuters) – Spanish consumer prices rose 8.9% year-on-year in September, down from 10.5% in the period through August and slightly below the flash estimate of 9.0% released two weeks ago, final data released by the National Statistics Institute showed on Friday.

Spain’s 12-month inflation in September was its slowest rate since May 2022. Analysts polled by Reuters saw the 12-month inflation to September running at 9.0%.

Although inflation has softened from a peak in July, it remained high due mainly to a massive electricity price increase and soaring food and non-alcoholic beverage prices which grew 14.4% in September, the fastest pace since January 1994, INE said.

Core inflation, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, fell to 6.2% year-on-year in September, from 6.4% registered in August.

Spanish Finance Minister Nadia Calvino welcomed the news on Friday and said the downward trend was accelerating and she hoped it would continue.

The Bank of Spain this month projected annual EU-harmonised inflation to end 2022 at 8.7%, up from a previous expectation of 7.2%. It expects a still hefty inflation rate of 5.6% in 2023 before it falls to 1.9% by 2024.

INE revised the 12-month European Union-harmonised price increase to 9.0%, down from a previous estimate of 9.3%.

(Reporting by Joao Manuel Mauricio in Gdansk, editing by Inti Landauro and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)