Inflation in Italy highest since 1984

Italy’s domestic price index jumped 11.8% in October from a year earlier, the highest since March 1984, official statistics agency ISTAT reported on Wednesday.

The rate picked up from an 8.9% annual increase in September and rose 3.4% on the monthly basis. Meanwhile, EU-harmonized year-on-year price growth hit 12.6% in October, jumping from the prior month’s 9.4%.

The “wide speed-up of the growth” in inflation was mainly due to the prices of energy (from +44.5% in September to +71.1%) and food including alcohol (from +11.4% to +13.3%).

The report also showed that prices of grocery and unprocessed food increased by 1.8% on a monthly basis and by +12.6% on an annual basis (up from +10.9% in the previous month).

“Therefore, core inflation (excluding energy and unprocessed food) was +5.3% (up from +5.0% in the previous month) and inflation excluding energy was +5.9% (up from +5.5% in September),” ISTAT said.

Last month, the head of energy think tank Nomisma Energia, Davide Tabarelli, said that Italy, along with the rest of the EU, is experiencing an energy shock of unprecedented magnitude, as electricity prices have almost doubled. He anticipated that Italians should be ready for rationing during the coldest winter months, urging households to make use of alternative methods of heating, such as burning firewood and pellets, the prices of which were also up.

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