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After the pause in February, inflation rises again in March. According to preliminary estimates from Istat, the national consumer price index for the entire community (NIC), including tobacco, increases by 0.1% on a monthly basis and by 1.3% on an annual basis ( from +0.8% in the previous month). While “underlying inflation”, net of energy and fresh food, accelerates from +2.3% to +2.4%, and that net of energy goods alone decelerates from +2.6% to +2 ,5%. «The slight acceleration is affected by the easing of the trend-based decline in the prices of energy goods», comments Istat. The inflation acquired for 2024 is equal to +0.6% for the general index and +1, 3% for the fund component.
“Shopping cart” prices slow down (+0.3%)
In March, the annual price dynamics of the so-called “shopping cart” slowed down (+3.0% from 3.7% in February). The prices of food, household and personal care goods are slowing down on a trend basis (from +3.4% to +3.0%), as are those of high-frequency purchasing products (from +2.8 February % at +2.7%). The prices of unprocessed food products also showed a slowdown in March (+2.6% from +4.4%). so did tobacco (from +2.6% to +1.9%).
Transport prices are increasing
The statistics body explains that the cyclical increase in the general index reflects, for the most part, the growth in prices of transport-related services also due to seasonal factors (+1.4%), of processed food goods and regulated energy (+0.7% both) and non-durable goods (+0.4%). The effects of these increases were only partially offset by the decrease in the prices of unregulated energy goods (-1.9%) and unprocessed food goods (-0.7%).
Energy goods
The trend in the prices of goods primarily reflects that of the prices of energy goods, which despite the economic decline recorded in March (-1.7%), show a clear recovery trend profile (from -17.3% in February at -10.8%). The attenuation of deflationary pressures concerns both the unregulated component (from -17.2% to -10.3%; -1.9% the cyclical) and the regulated one (from -18.4% to -13.8 %; increasing on a monthly basis by 0.7%). In more detail, within the non-regulated energy sector, the decline in free market electricity prices (from -40.6% to -22.5%; -5.3% since February), gas of city and natural gas free market (from -32.3% to -24.9%; -4.8% the economic situation), of diesel for transport vehicles (from -2.8% to -0.1%; -0.3% compared to the previous month) and Petrol (with trend reversal from -1.2% to +0.2%), which is affected by economic tensions (+0.9%). In the regulated sector, there was a significant trend acceleration in the prices of city gas and protected market natural gas (from +28.6% to +51.0%; +1.2% on a monthly basis), while those of Energy protected electricity market remain stable at -42.7% (the economic situation is nil).
