Final data published by the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) showed that in February, consumer prices rose by 1.6% per year (the highest value since October 2023) after an increase of 1.5% in January. Economists expected growth of 1.7% per annum. The latest change was mainly due to the prices of regulated energy products (from +27.5% to +31.4%), of non-regulated energy products (from -3.0% to -1.9%), of unprocessed food (from +2.2% to +2.9%) and of processed food including alcohol (from +1.7% to +1.9%). Meanwhile, the prices of services related to transport (from +2.5% to +1.9%), of services related to communication (from +1.1% to +0.5%) and of services related to recreation, including repair and personal care (from +3.3% to +3.1%) slowed down.
ISTAT said that the core CPI - excluding energy and unprocessed foods - rose by 1.7% per year after increasing by 1.8% in January. CPI growth excluding energy also slowed to 1.7% per annum.
On a monthly basis, the CPI rose 0.2%, as expected, after rising 0.6% in January.
The data also showed that in February, the harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP) - an indicator that allows to compare inflation in Italy with inflation in European countries - rose by 0.1% on a monthly basis and by 1.7% per year. In January, HICP fell by 0.8% over the month and rose by 1.7% per year.