Consumer prices (provisional)

According to preliminary estimates, in May 2024 the Italian consumer price index for the whole nation (NIC) increased by 0.2% on monthly basis and by 0.8% with respect to May 2023 (the same as in April 2024).

The stabilization of the growth on annual basis of All-item index underlies contrasting trends: the prices of Processed food (including alcohol and tobacco) (from +2.5% to +2.1%), of Services related to transport (from +2.7% to +2.4%) and of Services related to housing (from +2.8% to +2.6%) slowed down; on the contrary, the prices of Non-regulated energy products (from -13.9% to -13.5%), of Regulated energy products (from -1.3% to zero) and of Unprocessed foods (from +2.2% to +2.3%) have increased.

In May 2024, core inflation (excluding energy and unprocessed food) slowed down as well as inflation excluding energy (both from +2.1% to +2.0%).

As for Goods, the year on year growth rate was -0.8% (from -0.6% in April) and for Services the annual rate of change was +2.7% (from +2.9%). As a consequence, the inflationary gap between Services and Goods remains stable (at +3.5 percentage points).

The prices of Grocery and unprocessed food increased by 0.6% on monthly basis and by 2.0% on annual basis (down from +2.3% in the previous month).

The increase on monthly basis was mainly due to the prices of Unprocessed food (+1.5%), of Regulated energy products (+1.2%) and of Services related to recreation, including repair and personal care (+1.0%); on the other hand the prices of Non-regulated energy products (-1.1%) and of Durable goods (-0.3%) decreased.

In May 2024 the rate of change of the Italian harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP) was +0.2% on monthly basis and +0.8% on annual basis (from +0.9% in April).