Consumer prices

In May 2019 the rate of change of Italian consumer price index for the whole nation (NIC) was null compared with the previous month and +0.8% with respect to May 2018, down from +1.1% in the previous month. The flash estimate was +0.9%.

The slowdown of the growth on annual basis of All items index was mainly due to prices of Services related to transport (from +2.8% to +1.6%), of Non-regulated energy products (from +3.7% to +2.4%) and, to a lesser extent, of Services related to recreation, including repair and personal care (from +1.6% to +1.0%).

The core inflation excluding energy and unprocessed food was +0.4% (down from +0.6% in April 2019) and inflation excluding energy was +0.5% (down from +0.7%).

The zero variation on monthly basis of All items index was due to opposite dynamics; in particular, on one side to prices of Unprocessed food (+1.8%) and of Non-regulated energy products (+0.8%), and on the other side to prices of Services related to transport (-0.9%) and of Services related to communication (-0.5%).

The annual rate of change of prices of both Goods (down from +0.9% in April) and Services (down from +1.3% in the previous month) was +0.8%. As a consequence, the inflationary gap between Services and Goods was equal to zero (+0.4 in April).

Prices of Grocery and unprocessed food increased by 0.6% on monthly basis and by 0.3% on annual basis (the same as in the previous month).

The Italian harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP) increased by 0.1% on monthly basis and by 0.9% with respect to May 2018 (down from +1.1% in the previous month), confirming the flash estimate.