Consumer prices (provisional data) - April 2024

According to preliminary estimates, in April 2024 the Italian consumer price index for the whole nation (NIC) increased by 0.2% on monthly basis and by 0.9% with respect to April 2023 (from +1.2% in March).

The decrease of the growth on annual basis of All-item index was mainly due to the prices of Non-regulated energy products (from -10.3% to -13.9%), of Services related to transport (from +4.5% to +2.9%) and, to a lesser extent, of Services miscellaneous (from +2.3% to +1.8%), of Non-durable goods (from +2.0% to +1.5%) and of Unprocessed foods (from +2.6% to +2.2%). On the contrary, the prices of Tobacco (from +1.9% to +3.3%), of Services related to recreation, including repair and personal care (from +3.2% to +3.8%) and of Regulated energy products (from -13.8% to +0.8%) increased.

In April 2024, core inflation (excluding energy and unprocessed food) was +2.2% (from +2.3% in the previous month) and inflation excluding energy was +2.2% (from +2.4%).

As for Goods, the year on year growth rate was -0.6% (from -0.2% in March) and for Services the annual rate of change was +2.9% (from +3.0%). As a consequence, the inflationary gap between Services and Goods increased (from +3.2 percentage points in March to +3.5).

The prices of Grocery and unprocessed food increased by 0.2% on monthly basis and by 2.4% on annual basis (down from +2.6% in the previous month).

The increase on monthly basis was mainly due to the prices of Services related to recreation, including repair and personal care (+1.6%), of Tobacco (+1.3%), of Services related to transport (+0.8%) and of Processed food (including alcohol and tobacco) (+0.5%); on the other hand the prices of Regulated energy products (-8.2%) and of Non-regulated energy products (-1.8%) decreased.

In April 2024 the rate of change of the Italian harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP) was +0.6% on monthly basis, mainly due to the end of the winter sales of Clothing and footwear (not considered by NIC), and +1.0% on annual basis (from +1.2% in March).