Italy's Inflation Climbs in March

According to the preliminary report released by the National Statistics Office (INE) on Monday, Italy's annual inflation rate reached 2% in March. This marks a noticeable increase from the previous rate of 1.6%.

Key Drivers Behind the Inflation Surge

The rise in consumer prices was largely fueled by higher costs of non-regulated energy products, with additional contributions from tobacco, unprocessed food, and services related to communication and recreation. On the flip side, there was a decrease in the prices of regulated energy products and transport-related services during the same period.

Core Inflation and HICP Insights

The annual core inflation, which excludes energy and unprocessed food, remained steady at 1.7%. Meanwhile, inflation excluding energy saw a slight increase to 1.8%. The harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP) also experienced a 1.6% month-over-month rise, attributed mainly to the conclusion of winter sales on clothing and footwear.