The national consumer price index (NIC) rose 0.4 per cent month on month (MoM) in May. Core inflation, excluding energy and unprocessed food, edged up to 1.7 per cent from 1.6 per cent, while inflation excluding energy increased to 2.1 per cent from 1.9 per cent, Istat said in a press release.
Italy’s consumer inflation accelerated to 3.2 per cent year on year in May 2026, up from 2.7 per cent in April, driven by rising energy and transport costs.
The NIC rose 0.4 per cent month on month, while core inflation edged up to 1.7 per cent.
Goods inflation climbed to 3.4 per cent.
Italy’s HICP also increased 3.2 per cent annually, slightly below the 3.3 per cent flash estimate.
Among major categories, the annual growth rate for goods accelerated to 3.4 per cent from 3.1 per cent, while services inflation rose to 2.8 per cent from 2.4 per cent. As a result, the inflation gap between services and goods narrowed to -0.6 percentage points, compared with -0.7 percentage points in April.
The rise in overall inflation was mainly attributed to higher prices for non-regulated energy products, which climbed from 9.6 per cent to 12.5 per cent YoY. Prices of regulated energy products also increased from 5.3 per cent to 5.6 per cent. Inflation for transport services accelerated to 1.7 per cent from 0.6 per cent.
Meanwhile, Italy’s harmonised index of consumer prices (HICP) increased 0.3 per cent month on month and 3.2 per cent YoY in May, compared with 2.8 per cent in April. The latest figure was slightly below the flash estimate of 3.3 per cent.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (CG)
