Consumer prices (provisional data)

In April 2015, according to preliminary estimates, the Italian consumer price index for the whole nation (NIC) rose by 0.3% compared with the previous month and held steady with respect to April 2014 (the annual rate was -0.1% in March 2015).

The persistent stagnation of inflation summarizes changes of limited extent recorded by the dynamics on annual basis of the prices of some types of products such as Services related to recreation, including repair and personal care (+0.9%, from +0.5% in the previous month), Energy prices (-6.0%, from -6.5% in March 2015), Services related to transport (-0.6%, from +0.5% in the previous month).

Excluding energy and unprocessed food, core inflation was 0.4% (as in the previous month); excluding energy, the inflation was 0.6% (the same rate registered in March 2015).

The increase on monthly basis of All items index was mainly due to the rise – on which seasonal factors, as Easter holidays, had an impact – of prices of Services related to recreation, including repair and personal care (+1.3%) and of Services related to transport (+1.0%); this increase was partially balanced by the monthly decline of prices of Regulated energy products (-1.9% for Natural gas and town gas and -0.8% for Electricity).

The annual rate of change of prices of Goods was -0.4% (from -0.6% observed in March 2015) and the annual rate of prices of Services was +0.3% (down from +0.5% in the previous month). As consequence, the inflationary gap between Services and Goods decreased by 0.4 percentage points with respect to March 2015.

Prices of Grocery and unprocessed food held steady on monthly basis and rose by 0.8% on annual basis (the same rate registered in the previous month).

In April 2015, according to preliminary estimates, the Italian harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP) rose by 0.5% compared with the previous month and held steady with respect to April 2014 (as in March 2015). The monthly increase was also due to the final end of the winter sales of Clothing and footwear (+3.5% with respect to March 2015), 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 March 2015; excluding energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, the inflation was 0.3% (0.1 lower than in March 2015). Excluding energy, the inflation was stable at 0.7%.

Next release: 13 May 2015