Italy's consumer price index rose slightly in February

According to the report from National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT), in February 2021 the rate of change of Italian consumer price index for the whole nation (NIC) was +0.1% on monthly basis and +0.6% on annual basis (from +0.4% in January), confirming the flash estimate.

The slight speed up of All items index was mainly due to the less amplitude of the decrease of prices of Non-regulated energy products (from -6.3% to -3.6%) and to the trend reversal of prices of Services related to transport (from -0.1% to +1.0%); these dynamics were partially offset by the decrease of prices of Food including alcohol (from +0.6% to +0.2%).

Core inflation (excluding energy and unprocessed food) and inflation excluding energy slightly sped up to +0.9% for both (from +0.8% in the previous month).

The increase on monthly basis was mainly due to the prices of Non-regulated energy products (+1.4%), of Tobacco and of Services related to transport (+0.4% for both), only partially offset by the decrease of prices of Food including alcohol (-0.3%). Prices of Grocery and unprocessed food decreased by -0.2% on monthly basis and increased by +0.2% on annual basis (down from +0.4% in the previous month).