Consumer prices: provisional data

The Consumer Price Index measures the change in prices over time of a set of goods and
services (CPI basket) representative of Italian household consumption.
Istat estimates that in August 2012:

• the National Consumer Price Index for the whole nation CPI (see Italian NIC) –used to measure inflation over the entire Italian economic system – rose by 0.4% to the previous month and by 3.2% in comparison to the same month of the previous year;

• the EU Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices HICP (see Italian IPCA) – developed to facilitate the comparison of inflation between Member States – rose by 0.2% compared to the previous month and by 3.5% in comparison to the same month of the previous year.