Final data published by the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) showed that in July, consumer prices rose by 1.3% per year after an increase of 0.8% in June. Economists also expected growth of 1.3% per annum. The latest change was caused by an acceleration in price growth of regulated energy products (from +3.5% to +11.7%), of non-regulated energy products (from -10.3% to -6.0%), of tobacco (from +3.4% to +4.1%) and of services related to recreation, including repair and personal care (from +4.0% to +4.4%). Meanwhile, the prices of unprocessed foods (from +0.3% to -0.4%), of processed food including alcohol (from +2.0% to +1.6%), of non-durable goods (from +1.3% to +0.9%) and of services miscellaneous (from +1.8% to +1.5%) slowed down.
ISTAT said that the core CPI - excluding energy and unprocessed foods - rose by 1.9% per year after a similar increase in June. CPI growth excluding energy slowed to 1.8% per annum from 1.9% per annum.
On a monthly basis, the CPI rose 0.4%, accelerating compared to June (+0.1%). Consensus estimates suggested a 0.5% increase in the CPI.
The data also showed that in July, the harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP) - an indicator that allows to compare inflation in Italy with inflation in European countries - fell by 0.9% on a monthly basis and rose by 1.6% per year. In June, HICP increased by 0.2% over the month and by 0.9% per annum.