Consumer prices (provisional)

According to preliminary estimates, in September 2021 the rate of change of the Italian consumer price index for the whole nation (NIC) was -0.1% on monthly basis and +2.6% on annual basis (from +2.0% in August).

The growth on annual basis of All-item index was still mainly due to the prices of Energy (from +19.8% in August to +20.2%), for both those of Regulated energy products (from +34.4% to +34.3%) and those of Non-regulated energy products (from +12.8% to +13.3%). The latters contributed to the speed-up of inflation with respect to August that is also due, to a greater extent, to the prices of Food including alcohol (from +0.7% to +1.2%), of Durable goods (from +0.5% to +1.0%), of Services related to transport (which reversed the trend from -0.4% to +2.0%) and to the prices of Services related to recreation, including repair and personal care (from +1.5% to +1.8%).

Core inflation (excluding energy and unprocessed food) was 1.1% (from +0.6% in the previous month) and inflation excluding energy was +1.2% (from +0.5% in August).

The decrease on monthly basis was due to the prices of Services related to transport (-3.1%) and of Services related to recreation, including repair and personal care (-0.5%), largely affected by seasonal factors and whose decrease was only partially offset by the growth of prices of Unprocessed food (+0.8%).

The rate of change of Prices of Grocery and unprocessed food was +0.2% on monthly basis and +1.2% on annual basis (up from +0.6% in the previous month).

According to preliminary estimates, in September 2021 the rate of change of the Italian harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP) was +1.4% on monthly basis and +3.0% on annual basis (from +2.5% in August). The different dynamics of the HICP compared to the NIC was due to the end of the summer sales, not considered by NIC.

On pages 11-12 the methodological note describes the choices adopted to deal with the ongoing issues deriving from Covid-19 crisis.