Preliminary reports from the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) indicate that while inflation in Italy accelerated in March, it did so at a rate slower than anticipated. This data was made available on Friday.
In March, consumer prices recorded a year-on-year increase of 1.3%, compared to a growth of 0.8% in February. However, this climb was marginally lower than the predicted increase of 1.4%. On a month-to-month comparison, the consumer price index saw a slight increment of 0.1%, with a projected rise of 0.2%.
When excluding the costs of energy and unprocessed food, core inflation increased modestly from 2.3% to 2.4%. The data also highlighted a slowing down in the decline of regulated energy product prices, from a reduction of 13.8% and non-regulated energy prices falling 10.3%.
According to the harmonized index of consumer prices, March saw an annual inflation rate of 1.3%, a significant increase compared to the 0.8% rise in February. Nevertheless, this figure was lower than economists' prediction of a 1.5% increase. On a monthly scale, the harmonized index of consumer prices experienced an increase of 1.2%, following a stagnant period the previous month, with a speculated increase of 1.4%.
