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 since December 2023) after an increase of 1.1% in August. Economists also expected growth of 0.7% per annum. The slow down was mainly due to the prices of regulated energy products (from +14.3% to +10.4%), 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 of services related to transport (from +2.9% to +2.4%). Meanwhile, prices for unprocessed food rose by 0.3% after a 0.5% decline in August.
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 excluding energy increased by 1.7% per annum, also slowing compared to August (+1.8%).
On a monthly basis, the CPI fell by 0.2%, offsetting the August increase (+0.2%). Consensus estimates also suggested a 0.2% decrease.
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 0.7% per year. In August, HICP declined by 0.2% over the month and rose by 1.2% per annum.