Rome, Feb. 22, (dpa-AFX/GNA) - Italy’s consumer price inflation eased more than expected in January, on lower energy and fresh food prices, but core price growth accelerated due to increase in prices across a broad range of goods and services, latest figures from the statistical office ISTAT showed Wednesday.
The consumer price index rose 10% year-on-year following an 11.6% increase in December. The flash estimate was 10.1%.
Meanwhile, core inflation that excludes prices of energy and unprocessed food climbed to 6.0% from 5.8%.
Prices of regulated energy shrank 12.0% year-on-year in January versus a 70.2% surge in December, while those of non-regulated energy rose at a slower pace of 59.3%.
Fresh food prices grew 8.0% after a 9.5% increase in the previous month.
Recreational services inflation slowed to 5.5% from 6.2%.In contrast, prices of durable and non-durable goods rose at faster rates of 6.8% and 6.7%, respectively.
Housing services inflation accelerated to 3.2% from 2.1%.Services cost inflation climbed to 4.2% from 4.1%.
Compared to the previous month, the CPI edged up 0.1%, driven mainly by the increase in prices of housing services, processed food and durable goods, among others.
The Italian harmonised index of consumer prices (HICP) rose 10.7% year-on-year in January following a 12.3% increase in December. The flash estimate was 10.9%.
The EU measure of inflation fell 1.5% from the previous month, due to the winter sales. Separate data from ISTAT showed on Wednesday that Italy’s construction output grew 0.4% month-on-month in December.
In the fourth quarter, the construction output rose 2.1% from the previous three months. For the full year 2022, the construction output grew 12.7% from the previous year.
GNA