spains inflation rate eased slightly in august due to lower fuel prices but remained close to its highest reading in almost four decades consumer prices rose 103 in august compared with the same month a year earlier by european unionharmonized standards easing from the 107 increase registered in july preliminary data from the spanish statistics office ine showed tuesday the reading broadly matches the 104 forecast by economists polled by the wall street journal measured by national standards consumer prices rose 104 on year down from 108 in july which was the highest rate since september 1984 the fall in the annual inflation rate was driven by lower fuel prices compared with august 2021 ine said core inflationwhich exclude the more volatile categories of food and energyincreased to 64 in august from 61 in july on a monthly basis spains consumer prices rose 01 by both national standards and by euharmonized standards