Consumer prices (provisional data) - March 2024

According to preliminary estimates, in March 2024 the Italian consumer price index for the whole nation (NIC) increased by 0.1% on monthly basis and by 1.3% with respect to March 2023 (from +0.8% in February).

The increase of the growth on annual basis of All-item index was mainly due to the prices of Non-regulated energy products (from -17.2% to -10.3%), of Regulated energy products (from -18.4% to -13.8%) and, to a lesser extent, of Services related to transport (from +3.8% to +4.4%). On the contrary, the prices of Unprocessed food (from +4.4% to +2.6%) and of Tobacco (from +2.6% to +1.9%) decreased.

In March 2024, core inflation (excluding energy and unprocessed food) was +2.4% (from +2.3% in the previous month) and inflation excluding energy was +2.5% (from +2.6%).

As for Goods, the year on year growth rate was -0.1% (from -0.9% in February) and for Services the annual rate of change was +3.0% (from +2.9%). As a consequence, the inflationary gap between Services and Goods decreased (from +3.8 percentage points in February to +3.1).

The prices of Grocery and unprocessed food increased by 0.3% on monthly basis and by 3.0% on annual basis (down from +3.4% in the previous month).

The increase on monthly basis was mainly due to the prices of Services related to transport (+1.4% also due to seasonal factors), of Processed food (including alcohol and tobacco) and of Regulated energy products (+0.7% both) and of Non-durable goods (+0.4%); on the other hand the prices of Non-regulated energy products (-1.9%) and of Unprocessed food (-0.7%) slowed down.

In March 2024 the rate of change of the Italian harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP) was +1.2% on monthly basis, mainly due to the end of the winter sales of Clothing and footwear (not considered by NIC), and +1.3% on annual basis (from +0.8% in February).

Note: n 29 March 2024 at 12:15, the press release has been replaced following the correction of a typo in the horizontal axis labels of Chart 1. Italian Consumer Price Index for the whole nation (NIC).