Consumer prices - February 2024

In February 2024 the rate of change of the Italian consumer price index for the whole nation (NIC) increased by 0.1% on monthly basis and by 0.8% with respect to February 2023 (the same as in January 2024), confirming the flash estimate.

The stabilization of the growth on annual basis of All-item index underlies contrasting trends: the prices of Unprocessed food (from +7.5% to +4.4%), of Processed food including alcohol (from +4.5% to +3.4%), of Non energy industrial goods (from +1.7% to +1.2%), of Services related to transport (from +4.2% to +3.8%), of Services related to recreation, including repair and personal care (from +3.3% to +3.2%) and of Services related to housing (from +2.8% to +2.7%) slowed down; on the contrary, the prices of Non-regulated energy products (from -20.4% to -17.2%), Regulated energy products (from -20.6% to -18.4%), of Tobacco (from +2.2% to +2.6%) and of Services related to communication (from +0.2% to +0.8%) have increased.

In February 2024, core inflation (excluding energy and unprocessed food) was +2.3% (from +2.7% in the previous month) and inflation excluding energy was +2.6% (from +3.0%).

As for Goods, the year on year growth rate was -0.9% (from -0.7% in January) and for Services the annual rate of change was stable at +2.9%. As a consequence, the inflationary gap between Services and Goods increased in absolute value (from +3.6 percentage points in January to +3.8%).

The prices of Grocery and unprocessed food decreased by 0.3% on monthly basis and increased by 3.4% on annual basis (down from +5.1% in the previous month).

The increase on monthly basis was mainly due to the prices of Tobacco (+2.3%) and of Services related to communication (+0.5%); on the other hand the prices of Regulated energy products (-2.2%), of Non-regulated energy products and of Unprocessed food (-0.5%) slowed down.

In February 2024 the rate of change of the Italian harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP) was null compared with the previous month and +0.8% on annual basis (the flash estimate was +0.9%), down from +0,9% in January.