MILANO – Return to accelerate inflation in May. According to data released by Istat, prices recorded an increase of 0.8% on a monthly basis and 6.8% on an annual basis (from + 6.0% in the previous month). Istat communicates this by disseminating the final inflation data in May, which files the preliminary estimate (it was + 6.9% on an annual basis). “After the slowdown in April, inflation accelerates again, rising to a level that has not been recorded since November 1990”, underlines the Institute.
The prices of the so-called shopping cart rose sharply in May, rising to + 6.7%, as had not happened since March 1986 (when it was +7.2%). of the home and of the person that go from + 5.7% in April to + 6.7% and also those of products with high frequency of purchase (from + 5.8% to + 6.7%). Among the increases that make the shopping cart go up is that of processed foodstuffs (+ 6.6% per year).
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The acceleration of inflation on a trend basis, after the slowdown in April, according to Istat, is due to the prices of different types of products and in particular of energy goods, whose growth passes from + 39.5% in April to + 42.6% due to non-regulated energy (from + 29.8% to + 32.9%; the growth in regulated energy prices is stable at + 64.3%), food goods (from +6, 1% to + 7.1%), especially of processed food goods (from + 5.0% to + 6.6%), of recreational, cultural and personal care services (from + 2.4% to + 4.4%) and services related to transport (from + 5.1% to + 6.0%). Therefore, core inflation, net of energy and fresh food, accelerates from + 2.4% to + 3.2% and that net of energy goods alone from + 2.9% to + 3.6% .
On an annual basis, both the prices of goods (from + 8.7% to + 9.7%) and those of services (from + 2.1% to + 3.1%) accelerate; therefore, the negative inflation differential between the latter and the prices of goods remains stable (-6.6 percentage points as in April). Compared to the previous month, the cyclical increase in the general index is mainly due to the prices of non-regulated energy goods (+ 3.6%), processed food (+ 1.3%), recreational services, cultural and personal care (+ 1.2%) and unprocessed food (+ 1.1%).
In addition, the harmonized index of consumer prices (Ipca) recorded an increase on a monthly basis of 0.9% and of 7.3% on an annual basis (from + 6.3% in the previous month), confirming the preliminary estimate. The national index of consumer prices for blue-collar and white-collar families (Foi), net of tobacco, recorded an increase of 0.8% on a monthly basis and of 6.8% on an annual basis