Final data published by the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) showed that in March consumer prices rose by 1.2% per year after an increase of 0.8% in February. Economists expected the CPI to rise by 1.3%. The latest change was mainly due to the prices of non-regulated energy products (from -17.2% to -10.3%), of regulated energy products (from -18.4% to -13.8%) and, to a lesser extent, of services related to transport (from +3.8% to +4.5%). On the contrary, the prices of unprocessed food (from +4.4% to +2.6%), of tobacco (from +2.6% to +1.9%) and of processed food including alcohol (from +3.4% to +2.8%) slowed down.
ISTAT said that the core CPI - excluding energy and unprocessed foods - rose by 2.3% per year after a similar increase in February. CPI growth excluding energy slowed to 2.4% per annum from 2.6% per annum in February.
On a monthly basis, the CPI remained unchanged after an increase of 0.1% in February. Consensus estimates suggested a 0.1% increase.
The data also showed that in March, 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 1.2% per year. In February, HICP was unchanged for the month and rose by 0.8% per annum.