Consumer prices - December 2023

In December 2023 the Italian consumer price index for the whole nation (NIC) increased by 0.2% on monthly basis and by 0.6% on annual basis (from +0.7% in November), confirming the flash estimate.

In 2023, the average annual rate of change of consumer prices, measured by NIC, was +5.7% (+8.1% in 2022); core inflation, excluding energy and unprocessed food, was +5.1% (from +3.8% in 2022) and inflation excluding energy was +5.3% (+4.1% in 2022).

The slow down of the growth on annual basis of All-item index was mainly due to the prices of Regulated energy products (from -34.9% to -41.6%), of thoese of Services related to recreation including repair ad personal care (from +4.6% to +3.6%) and of Processed food including alcohol (from +5.8% to +4.9%). On the contrary, the prices of Non-regulated energy products (from -22.5% to -21.1%) and of Unprocessed food (from +5.6% to +7.0%) speed up.

In December 2023, core inflation (excluding energy and unprocessed food) was +3.1% (from +3.6% in the previous month) and inflation excluding energy was +3.4% (from +3.6% in November).

The prices of Grocery and unprocessed food increased by 0.2% on monthly basis and by 5.3% on annual basis (down from +5.4% in the previous month).

The increase on monthly basis was mainly due to the prices of Services related to transport (+1.4% also affected by seasonal factors), of Unprocessed food (+0.7%) and of Non-durable goods (+0.5%); on the other hand the prices of Regulated energy products (-3.2%) and of Non-regulated energy products (-2.1%) slowed down.

In December 2023, the Italian harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP) increased by 0.2% compared with the previous month and by 0.5% on annual basis (from +0.6% in November), confirming the flash estimate. In 2023 the average annual rate of change of HICP was +5.9% (+8.7% in 2022).

On average, in 2023, inflation measured by HICP had a larger impact on households with lowerpurchasing power (from +12.1% in 2022 to +6.5%) than on households with greater purchasing power (+7.2% slowing down from +5.7% in 2022).