The final report of the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) showed that last month the consumer price index rose by 0.7% after a 0.2% decline in September. In annual terms, the CPI increased by 3% compared with an increase of 2.5% a month earlier. CPI growth was expected to accelerate to 2.9%.
The catalyst for the increase in prices in annual terms was energy prices (+24.9% versus +20.2% in September). The rate of price growth also accelerated for transport-related services (+2.4% vs. +2.0% in September).
The data also showed that in October, the growth of the core CPI (excluding energy and unprocessed food) accelerated to 1.1% from 1.0% in the previous month. Meanwhile, CPI growth excluding energy remained at 1.1%.
ISTAT also reported that the harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP) increased in October by 0.9% month-on-month and 3.2% year-on-year. In September, HICP increased by 1.3% and 2.9%, respectively.