In December, inflation reached 3.9%: after the decline in 2020 (-0.2%), therefore, consumer prices return to growth on average for the year (+ 1.9%), registering the largest increase since 2012 (+ 3%). Istat reports this, underlining how the recovery in inflation was substantially driven by the trend in energy prices (+ 14.1%), which instead decreased by 8.4% in 2020. Net of these goods, in 2021 , the growth in consumer prices is the same as recorded in the previous year (+ 0.7%).
Consequently, the inflation acquired for 2022 (i.e. the average growth that would occur in the year if prices remained stable until December) is equal to + 1.8%, unlike what happened for 2021, when it was – 0.1%.
As regards the last month of last year, the further acceleration of inflation on a trend basis is mainly due to the prices of food goods, both processed (from + 1.4% in November to + 2.0%) and not processed (from + 1.5% to + 3.6%), to those of Durable goods (from + 0.4% to + 0.8%) and of recreational, cultural and personal care services (from + 1.9% to + 2.3%); the prices of energy goods continue to grow very sharply, albeit slowing down (from + 30.7% to + 29.1%), due to those of the non-regulated component (from + 24.3% to +22.0 %), while the growth in prices of the regulated component remains almost stable (from + 41.8% to + 41.9%).
The cyclical increase in the general index is due, on the one hand, to the prices of unprocessed food (+ 1.1%) and durable goods (+ 0.6%), on the other hand to growth, to due to seasonal factors, the prices of transport services (+ 1.9%) and recreational, cultural and personal care services (+ 0.8%). The harmonized index of consumer prices (Ipca) increased by 0.5% on a monthly basis and by 4.2% on an annual basis (from + 3.9% in November), confirming the preliminary estimate. The average annual change in 2021 was + 1.9% (-0.1% in 2020).