Consumer prices

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.
In January 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 0.3% 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 – declined by 1.8% compared
to the previous month and rose by 3.4% in comparison to the same month of the previous
year.