Punctual as a Swiss watch, the autumn sting arrives again this year, a sort of hidden tax that awaits Italians returning from holidays, determined by the sharp rise in prices and tariffs in some sectors. Estimating the extent of the bloodletting is Assoutenti which, taking into consideration 5 items of expenditure, calculates the greatest outlay for Italians at +1,600 euros per family. There is, however, a feeble hope: if the government’s hypothesised price control is triggered (the signature of the food industry is still missing) the overall savings could be around 150 euros (4 billion in all).
The first item that will interest citizens is that of food: «Today, food products as a whole cost 10.7% more than last year, a trend which, if confirmed in the next few months, would lead to spending on food and drinks of a typical family to rise in the September-December period by as much as +205 euros compared to the same period in 2022», calculates Assoutenti. Schools will then reopen in September, and a drain on expenditure linked to school supplies is already being announced: stationery products register an average increase of 9.2% on an annual basis, due to the rise in raw material prices and higher production costs . A family that has to buy everything from scratch for its child for the entire school year (backpack, diary, pencil case, pens, pencils, notebooks, etc.) thus finds itself spending about 50 euros more than in 2022, to which must be added the price increases for textbooks (+45 euros), with a total increase for the “school” item equal to +95 euros per student».
It is also more expensive to travel by car: «If the price lists at the pump were to remain at current levels, the cost of supplies, assuming two full tanks a month per family, would rise in the last four months to a total of 103 euros per household compared to what was spent in the same 4 months of 2022″. The mortgage front then opens up: ««Assuming a 0.25% rate adjustment at the next ECB meetings, spending on monthly installments in the September-December period would be more expensive overall by around +1,170 euros compared to 2022» , calculates Absusers.
It will also be more expensive to eat in restaurants and consume in bars: in this sector the increase in expenditure will be around +28 euros per family in 4 months. Total: +1,601 euros per family. But the Italians will also have to deal with the increases in insurance prices: Aiped, the Italian association of Damage Appraisers, reports increases in costs for policies connected to homes in the order of +9.1% per year, while the it is up by +3.3% compared to the same period of 2022, a percentage which “brings the average tariff to 374 euros per policy and determines greater expenditure for the policyholders of 390 million euros”, affirms the president of Aiped, Luigi Mercury.
«Italians have to prepare for an autumn blow caused by strong increases in prices and tariffs in various sectors, but there is something new. – affirms the president Furio Truzzi – In fact, the quarterly anti-inflation basket wanted by the government will start next October, a measure that could lead to savings in favor of families. A possible 10% price reduction for the shopping trolley in the three months of application of the basket would lead to an average saving of 155.3 euros per quarter for the typical family, of which around 140 euros only for food shopping. Projecting these numbers onto all Italian families, overall savings in the three months of application of the basket would reach a total of 4 billion euros. These are obviously mere estimates which will be affected by various variables, such as the range of products that will be included in the basket, the price cuts made by large retailers and merchants and the adhesion of consumers, but which give an idea of how the reduction of retail price lists impacts on the pockets of the community», concludes Truzzi.