No braking, just a stop to the run of the annual figure. In the preliminary Istat estimates, the national consumer price index for the entire community (NIC), gross of tobacco, shows an increase of 0.5% on a monthly basis and of 11.8% on an annual basis (as in previous month),
On a monthly basis, this is thus the seventh consecutive increase and in the annual comparison there is no decline, for a figure (11.8%) that has not been seen in Italy since 1984.
The picture is still complex, due to opposing movements in the sectors. Looking at the annual figure, on the one hand the prices of non-regulated energy goods slow down (from +79.4% to +69.9%), unprocessed food (from +12.9% to +11.3%) and transport related services (from +7.2% to +6.8%); on the other hand, the prices of regulated energy (from +51.6% to +56.1%), of processed food goods (from +13.3% to +14.4%), of other goods (from +4 .6% to +5.0%) and recreational, cultural and personal care services (from +5.2% to +5.5%). The only figure in decline, as has been the case for some time, is that of communications. But it is, precisely, an exception within a vast range of price increases that affect, albeit with less intensity (+8.8%) also the goods with the highest purchase frequency.
“If in the coming months – comments Istat – the ongoing drop in the wholesale prices of gas and other raw materials continues, the fire of inflation, which has characterized the current year so far, could begin to recede ».
For now it is a question of hope, even if some signs are actually already visible with some evidence of a “cooling” in the world (in the US the October figure, 7.7%, is the lowest since January) and in general upstream, in producer prices. In October they fell for the first time after two years in Germany (-4.2%) and the same happened in Italy: a monthly slowdown of 3.3% after 22 consecutive increases.