(Finance) – In February, for the eighth consecutive month, inflation accelerates, reaching a level (+ 5.7%) which had not been registered since November 1995. It is the prices of unregulated energy goods that are driving growth, following the January blaze of regulated energy sources (together, the two components explain two thirds of the trend change in the NIC index). Istat notes this, underlining that inflationary tensions spreadin particular to foodstuffs, whose prices accelerate by more than one point, dragging over 4% also the increase in the prices of the so-called “shopping cart”. Inflation of the core component (net of energy and fresh food) rises, reaching + 1.7%.
In February, the Institute of Statistics estimates that the national index of consumer prices for the whole community (NIC), before tobacco, registers an increase of 0.9% on a monthly basis and of 5.7% % on an annual basis (from + 4.8% the previous month), confirming the preliminary estimate.
The acceleration of inflation on a trend basis is mainly due to the prices of energy goods (whose growth goes from + 38.6% in January to + 45.9%), in particular those of the non-regulated component (from +22 , 9% to + 31.3%), and to a lesser extent at the prices of food goods, both processed (from + 2.2% to + 3.1%) and unprocessed (from + 5.3% to +6 , 9%); the prices of regulated energy goods, also in February, almost doubled compared to the same month of 2021 (stable at + 94.6%).
L’underlying inflationnet of energy and fresh food, accelerates from + 1.5% to + 1.7% and that net of energy goods alone from + 1.8% to + 2.1%.
On an annual basis, the prices of goods accelerated significantly (from + 7% to + 8.6%), while those of services remained stable (at + 1.8%); therefore the negative inflation differential between the latter and the prices of goods widens (from -5.2 percentage points in January to -6.8).
Both the prices of food goods, for home and personal care (from + 3.2% in January to + 4.1%) and those of products with high frequency of purchase (from + 4.3% to + 5.3%).
The cyclical increase in the general index is mainly due to the prices of non-regulated energy goods (+ 8.3%) and to a lesser extent to those of unprocessed food goods (+ 1.7%), durable products (+ 0.8%) and processed foodstuffs (+ 0.4%).
L’acquired inflation for 2022 it is equal to + 4.3% for the general index and + 1.3% for the core component.
L’harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP) increased by 0.8% on a monthly basis and by 6.2% on an annual basis (from + 5.1% in January), confirming the preliminary estimate.
The national index of consumer prices for blue-collar and white-collar households (FOI), net of tobacco, records an increase of 1% on a monthly basis and of 5.6% on an annual basis