Spanish Prices Drop at Fastest Pace Since 2009 Credit Crunch

Consumer prices in Spain fell at the fastest pace since the depths of the credit crunch in 2009 as declining wages curbed the pricing power of retailers.

Spanish prices dropped 0.4 percent from a year earlier as measured by a harmonized European Union method. That compared with the median forecast for a 0.3 percent drop in a Bloomberg News survey of 12 economists. Prices slid 1.5 percent on the month while core inflation, which excludes energy and fresh food prices, was zero.