Consumer prices (provisional data)

In January 2015, according to preliminary estimates, the Italian consumer price index for the whole nation (NIC) declined by 0.4% compared with the previous month and by 0.6% with respect to January 2014 (the annual rate was equal to zero in December 2014).

The dynamics on annual basis of the All items index was mainly due to the extension of the decrease on annual basis of prices of Energy (in particular, of Non-regulated energy products which declined by 14.1%, down from -8.0% in December 2014) and to the slowdown of the annual growth of prices of services and specifically of the Services related to transport (+0.2%, from +2.0% in December 2014).

Excluding energy and unprocessed food, core inflation was down by half (+0.3%, from +0.6% in the previous month); excluding energy, the inflation was 0.3% (0.2 lower than in December 2014).

The decrease on monthly basis of All items index was mainly due to the monthly decline of prices of Non-regulated energy products (-6.3%) – with the marked decline of prices of fuels –, of Electricity (-2.2%) and of Services related to transport (-2.4%), on which seasonal factors had an impact. This decline was partially balanced by the monthly increase of prices of Fresh vegetables (+7.1%), on which seasonal factors had an impact, too.

The annual rate of change of prices of Goods was -1.5% (from -0.8% observed in December 2014) and the annual rate of prices of Services was +0.5% (+1.0% in the previous month). As consequence, the inflationary gap between Services and Goods increased by 0.2 percentage points with respect to December 2014.

Prices of Grocery and unprocessed food rose by 0.6% on monthly basis and by 0.1% on annual basis (up from -0.2% in December 2014).

In January 2015, according to preliminary estimates, the Italian harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP) decreased by 2.4% compared with the previous month and by 0.4% with respect to January 2014 (from -0.1% registered in December 2014). The large decrease on monthly basis was mainly due to the winter sales of Clothing and footwear (-23.0% compared with December 2014), which are not taken into account in the national index NIC.

Core inflation measured by Italian HICP was 0.4%, down from 0.6% in December 2014. A decrease of two-tenths of a percentage point was also registered for the inflation calculated excluding energy, food, alcohol and tobacco (which was 0.5%, down from 0.7% in December 2014). Excluding energy, the inflation was 0.4% (0.1 lower than in December 2014).

Note: On February 19, 2015, at 15:50, the Press release “Consumer Prices – provisional data of January 2015,” has been replaced because in the previous text the increase of HICP index for Clothing and footwear, equal to 23.0%, was reported by mistake as an increase with respect to January 2014 whereas it was with respect to December 2014.