Consumer prices slow down again in November. According to provisional data released today by Istat, the Nic consumer price index decreased by 0,4% on a quarterly basis and rose by 0,1% over the same period of the previous year.
Analysts were indicating growth of 0,3 percentage points year on year.
The harmonized index of the Ipca fell by 0,5% on the month and rose by 0,1% on a year-on-year basis.
Inflation acquired for 2015 is stable at +0,1%.
The new data fuels fears that the reweighting is less effective than expected. Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan, in an interview with Corriere della Sera on Sunday, said that at the moment there are no "concrete elements" that lead to revise the estimate of +0,9% of GDP for 2015. However, he specified that the new terrorist advance could jeopardize the quality of the recovery.
Istat explains that the slowdown in inflation is mainly due to the "reduction in the amplitude of the trend growth of recreational, cultural and personal care services (+0,4% from +1,4% in October), mainly caused by accommodation and restaurant services (+0,7% from +2,1% in the previous month), to which must be added the containment of the dynamics of unprocessed food prices (+3,2%, from +4,1% in October)".
"These trends are partly offset by the slowdown in the decline in the prices of unregulated energy, in practice fuels, (-11,2%, from -12,7% in October)".
Core inflation, calculated net of energy goods and fresh food, fell to +0,6% from +0,8% in October. Net of energy goods alone, inflation slows to +0,8% from +1%.
The prices of the most frequently purchased products, the so-called shopping cart, did not vary on a monthly basis and recorded a stable downward trend equal to -0,1%.
The prices of food, home and personal care products rose by 0,3% on a monthly basis and by 1,3% on an annual basis.
