In May 2024, the national consumer price index for the entire community, including tobacco, increased by 0.2% on a monthly basis and by 0.8% on an annual basis. Istat communicates this by confirming the
preliminary estimate. The preliminary estimate of the Ipca index was also confirmed, increasing by 0.2% on a monthly basis and by 0.8 on an annual basis. The “underlying inflation”, net of energy and fresh food, decelerates, as does that net of energy goods alone (both from +2.1% to +2.0%). While the inflation acquired for 2024 is equal to +0.8% for the general index and
+1.8% for the underlying component. Food prices, for the
home and personal care, the so-called “shopping cart” slowed down on a trend basis from +2.3% in April to +1.8% in May as well as those of high-frequency purchasing products which went from +2 .6% in April to +2.5% in May
The contrasting trends
The stability of inflation – we read in the Istat note – underlies contrasting trends in various expenditure aggregates: the prices of processed food goods are slowing down (from +2.5% to +1.8%), of services relating to transport (from +2.7% to +2.4%) and Housing-related Services (from +2.8% to
+2.6%); on the other hand, the decline in the prices of unregulated energy attenuates (from -13.9% to -13.5%) and that of regulated ones stops (from -1.3% to +0.7%) and accelerates slightly the prices of recreational, cultural and personal care services (from +3.8% to +4.3%).
Prices in the service sector
The trend trend in the prices of goods recorded a slightly larger decline (from -0.6% to -0.9%) and that of services was stable (at +2.9%), determining an increase in the inflationary differential between the services and goods sectors (+3.8 percentage points, from +3.5 in April). The cyclical increase in the general index reflects, for the most part
plus, the growth in prices of regulated energy goods (+1.9%), recreational, cultural and personal care services (+1.5%) and unprocessed food goods (+1.4%). The effects of these increases were only partially offset by the decrease in the prices of non-energy goods
regulated (-1.1%) and durable goods (-0.5%).
Istat’s comment
«In May – comments Istat – inflation remained at the same level as April (+0.8%). The stabilization of the growth rate is mainly due to the easing of tensions on the prices of processed food goods (+1.8% from +2.5% in April) and of some types of services (transport and housing-related) , the effects of which compensate for the weakening of deflationary pressures coming from the energy sector, where prices show a sharply rising trend profile, while remaining at widely
negative (-11.6% from -12.1%). The annual dynamics of shopping cart prices continues to decline (+1.8% from +2.3%), as does underlying inflation, which stands at +2.0% (from +2 ,1%)”.
