Consumer prices

In December 2020 the Italian consumer price index for the whole nation (NIC) increased by 0.2% on monthly basis and decreased by 0.2% on annual basis (as in November). The flash estimate was -0.1%.

In 2020, the average annual rate of change of consumer prices, measured by NIC, was -0.2% (+0.6% in 2019); core inflation, excluding energy and unprocessed food, was +0.5% (the same as in 2019) and inflation excluding energy was +0.7% (from +0.6% in 2019).

The decrease on annual basis of All items index was still mainly due to the drop of prices of Energy products (-7.7%, from +8.6% in November), whose lower extent together with that of prices of Services related to transport (from -1.6% to -0.7%) was offset by the slowdown of prices of Unprocessed food (from +3.2% to +1.6%) determining the stability of inflation rate.

Both core inflation (excluding energy and unprocessed food) and inflation excluding energy were +0.6% (the first one up from +0.4% in November, the second as in the previous month).

The growth on monthly basis was mainly due to the increase of prices of Non-regulated energy products (+1.9%) and of Services related to transport (+1.8%), only partially offset by the decrease of those of Unprocessed food (-1.0%).

Prices of Grocery and unprocessed food decreased by 0.6% on monthly basis and increased by 0.6% on annual basis (halving their growth from +1.2% in the previous month).

In December 2020, the Italian harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP) increased by 0.2% on monthly basis and decreased by 0.3% on annual basis (the same as in the previous month), confirming the flash estimate. In 2020 the average annual rate of change of HICP was -0.1% (+0.6% in 2019).

On average, in 2020, HICP reversed the trend for households with less purchasing power (-0.4%, from +0.6% in 2019) and slowed down for those with greater purchasing power (+0.1%, from +0.7%).

On pages 15-16 the methodological note describes the choices adopted in December and in the previous months to deal with the ongoing issues deriving from Covid-19 crisis.