Consumer prices (provisional)

In November 2014, according to provisional estimates, the Italian consumer price index for the whole nation (NIC) declined by 0.2% compared with the previous month and rose by 0.2% with respect to November 2013 (0.1 higher than in October 2014).

Although it remained weak, the inflation registered a speed-up which was mainly due to the reversal of trend of Unprocessed food prices (+0.8%, from -0.2% in October 2014); to a lesser extent, contributions derived from other product typologies. This dynamics was partially offset by the widening of the annual decrease of prices of  Non-regulated energy products (-3.2%, from -2.2% in the previous month).

Therefore, excluding unprocessed food and energy, core inflation was stable at 0.5%; whereas, excluding energy, the inflation was 0.5%, up from 0.4% in October 2014.

The decline on monthly basis of All items index was mainly due to the decrease of prices of Non-regulated energy products (-2.4%) and to the decline of prices – on which seasonal factors had an impact – of Services related to transport (-1.2%) and Services related to recreation, including repair and personal care (-0.8%). This decline was partially balanced by the monthly increases of prices of Fresh vegetables (+8.5%), Fresh fruit (+2.4%) and Services related to communication (+1.5%).

The annual rate of change of prices of Goods was -0.4% (from -0.3% observed in October 2014) and the annual rate of change of prices of Services was 0.9%, up from 0.7% registered in the previous month. As a consequence, the inflationary gap between Services and Goods increased by 0.3 percentage points with respect to October 2014.

Prices of Grocery and unprocessed food rose by 0.6% on monthly basis and by 0.5% on annual basis (up from +0.1% in the previous month).

In November 2014, according to preliminary estimates, the Italian harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP) declined by 0.3% compared with the previous month and rose by 0.2% with respect to November 2013 (the same annual rate of change observed in October 2014).

Core inflation measured by Italian HICP was 0.4%, down from 0.5% in October 2014. A decrease of one tenth of a percentage point was also registered for the inflation calculated excluding energy, food, alcohol and tobacco (which was 0.5%, down from 0.6% in October 2014). Excluding energy, the inflation rose to 0.5% (from 0.4% in the previous month) instead.