Final data published by the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) showed that in November, consumer prices rose by 1.3% per year (the highest value since July) after an increase of 0.9% in October. Economists expected growth of 1.4% per annum. The acceleration was mainly due to the prices of regulated energy products (from +3.9% to +7.4%), of non-regulated energy products (from -10.2% to -6.6%), of processed food including alcohol (from +1.7% to +1.9%), of unprocessed food (from +3,4% to +3.8%), of services related to transport (from +3.0% to +3.5%), of non-durable goods (from +0.9% to +1.4%) and, to a lesser extent, of services related to housing (from +2.3% to +2.5%) and of services related to communication (from +1.0% to +1.2%).
ISTAT said that the core CPI - excluding energy and unprocessed foods - rose by 1.9% per year after an increase of 1.8% in October. CPI excluding energy increased by 2.0% per year, accelerating compared to October (+1.9%).
On a monthly basis, the CPI decreased by 0.1% after remaining unchanged in October. This was the second price drop this year. Economists had expected prices to remain unchanged.
The data also showed that in November, the harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP) - an indicator that allows to compare inflation in Italy with inflation in European countries - fell by 0.1% on a monthly basis and rose by 1.5% per year (5-month high). In October, HICP increased by 0.3% over the month and by 1.0% per annum.