Italy’s annual inflation rate stood at 6.4% in June, compared with 7.6% in the previous month, the lowest level in more than a year, according to preliminary data from the Italian statistical institute (Istat).
The price dampening is mainly due to the cost of unregulated energy products, whose increase moderated to 8.4% from the previous 20.3%.
Processed foods and alcohol also contributed to this momentum, up 11.9% (down 1.3%); leisure and personal care services, which increased in price by 6.5% (two-tenths less); Non-energy industrial goods performed at 4.8% (down two tenths), as did transportation at 3.8% (down 1.8%). On the contrary, the share of unprocessed food rose by eight tenths to 9.6% in June.
That put the underlying index, which excludes energy and unprocessed food prices due to their greater volatility, at 5.6% at mid-year, down four tenths from May.
On a monthly basis, the general price increase remained unchanged in the sixth month of the year. For its part, the harmonized inflation rate, a reference for Eurostat, fell by 1.3% to 6.7%.