Final data published by the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) showed that in September, consumer prices rose by 0.7% per year (the weakest growth this year) after an increase of 1.1% in August. Economists expected growth of 0.8% per annum. The latest change was caused by a slowdown in price growth of regulated energy products (from +14.3% to +10.0%), of non-regulated energy products (from -8.6% to -11.0%), of services related to recreation, including repair and personal care (from +4.5% to +4.0%) and transportation services (from +2.9% to +2.5%). Meanwhile, the prices of unprocessed foods (from -0.5% to +0.3%) and of processed food including alcohol (from +1.5% to +1.8%) accelerated.
ISTAT said that the core CPI - excluding energy and unprocessed foods - rose by 1.8% per year after increasing by 1.9% in August. CPI growth excluding energy slowed to 1.7% per annum from 1.8% per annum.
On a monthly basis, the CPI fell 0.2%, as expected, after rising 0.2% in August.
The data also showed that in September, the harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP) - an indicator that allows to compare inflation in Italy with inflation in European countries - rose by 1.2% on a monthly basis and by 0.8% per year. In August, HICP fell by 0.2% over the month and rose by 1.2% per annum.