Italian inflation rose to 0.9% in April, from the 1.2% that characterized March. Istat writes in its preliminary estimates that “The slight deceleration is affected by the trend in prices of non-regulated energy goods (-13.9% from -10.3%) and transport-related services (+2.9% from +4.5%). Food also slowed slightly (+2.6% from +2.7%). […]
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Italian inflation rose to 0.9% in April, from the 1.2% that characterized March. Istat writes in its preliminary estimates that “The slight deceleration is affected by the trend dynamics of prices of unregulated energy goods (-13.9% from -10.3%) and transport-related services (+2.9% from +4.5%). Food is also slowing down slightly (+2.6% from +2.7%). On the other hand, regulated energy sectors show a strong trend recovery (+0.8% from -13.8%), despite the economic decline (-8.2%)”. The “shopping cart” sub-index also fell, i.e. focused on food, home and personal care products, which rose to 2.4%, from 2.6% in March. Inflation increases for 2024 (i.e. the inflation that would occur assuming the index remained at the same level as the last monthly data available in the remaining part of the year) it is now equal to +0.6% (+0.5% March). Across the entire eurozone the cost of living stands at 2.4%, unchanged compared to March. In France inflation slowed down and stood at 2.2%, compared to 2.3% in March. In Germany it is stable at 2.2%.
Istat today also released data on the trend in wages in the period January-March 2024, where records an increase of 2.8% compared to the same period of 2023. The index of contractual hourly wages in March 2024 only marks a 0.3% increase compared to the previous month and by 3% compared to March 2023. Istat communicates this in the flash update on Salaries and Contracts. The trend increase in wages was 4.7% for industrial employees, 2.6% for those in private services and 1.6% for public administration workers. The sectors showing the highest trend increases are: wood, paper and printing (+8.5%), credit and insurance (+7.1%) and the metalworking sector (+6.1%). However, the increase is zero for private pharmacies, public businesses and hotels, telecommunications, ministries, law enforcement agencies, armed forces and fire brigade activities.. The average increase in paychecks marks a slight recovery of acquired power of Italian paychecks, decimated by two years of almost zero increases in the face of soaring consumer prices.
. Slight recovery for payroll purchasing power in the first part of 2024){kind=link}