Consumer prices (provisional data)

According to preliminary estimates, in April 2020 the rate of change of the Italian consumer price index for the whole nation (NIC) was +0.1% on monthly basis and zero with respect to April 2019 (from +0.1% in the previous month).

The slowdown of the growth on annual basis of all items index was mainly due to the widening of the decrease of prices of regulated energy products (from -9.4% to -13.9%) and of non-regulated energy products (from -2.7% to -7.6%); these dynamics were partially offset by the speed-up of prices of food including alcohol (from +1.1% to +2.8%) and, to a lesser extent, by the lower decrease of services related to communication (from -2.6% to -1.3%).

Core inflation (excluding energy and unprocessed food) was +0.7% (the same as in the previous month) and inflation excluding energy was +0.9% (up from +0.7%).

Prices of grocery and unprocessed food increased by 1.2% on monthly basis and by 2.6% on annual basis (up from +1.0% in the previous month).

In April, the Italian harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP) increased by 0.5% on monthly basis and by +0.1% on annual basis (the same as in the previous month).

April preliminary estimates of NIC and HICP have been compiled in the context of the spread in Italy of the Covid-19 crisis and the consequent interruption of many retail trade activities supplying goods and services. The structure of Italian consumer price survey, based on the use of multiple sources to collect data, has allowed to contain the effects of the higher amount of missing observations. On pages 11-12 the methodological note describes the context and the choices adopted to deal with the issues emerged.