Spain's European Union-harmonised 12-month inflation rate fell to 2.4% in January, down from 3.0% in the period through December, final data released by the National Statistics Institute (INE) showed on Friday. The INE's final data was slightly below the 2.5% forecast in both the flash reading released two weeks ago and the average estimate from analysts polled by Reuters. Core inflation, which strips out volatile fresh food and energy prices, stood at 2.6% in the 12 months through January, unchanged from the period through December, the INE said.