The cauldron includes tattoos and vegetable drinks, men's shorts and girls' leggings, dust-catching cloths and the LED light bulb, as well as integrated telecommunications services (TV, Internet and voice) and university accommodation. With the usual scientific capital letter and that vague screeching between technical language and everyday reality, the update of the Istat basket arrives again this year, the list of products whose prices are used to calculate inflation.
The operation "takes into account the novelties that have emerged in household spending habits - explains Istat - and enriches, in some cases, the range of products that represent consolidated consumption". This is why, for example, the product Couchette and sleeping cars came out of the basket.
Instead, as regards the survey of the prices of used cars, "it supplements that of the prices of new cars". Another new entry is the Electric drill, which enriches the product range in the consumer segment Power tools and equipment for the home and garden.
In all, this year's basket consists of over 1.400 products grouped into more than 900 categories. The update takes place regularly, but in 2016 the revision also reflects the introduction of the new classification of goods and services intended for consumption ECOICOP (European Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose).
As in 2015, 80 provincial capitals contribute to the inflation estimate with reference to the complete basket. In terms of provincial population, the coverage of the survey is 83,5%. Another 16 municipalities - four more than in 2015 - contribute to the inflation estimate for a subset of products (local tariffs, some services and fuel), whose weight on the NIC basket is 8,9%. For these products, the coverage of the survey, in terms of provincial population, is 92,4%.
In the new basket, the weight of goods has increased (from 53,55% to 53,72%) to the detriment of services (down from 46,45% to 46,28%), mainly due to the increased importance of Durable goods and Unprocessed Food and the decline in Transportation Services. Considering the expenditure divisions, however, the most substantial increases in weight concern hospitality and restaurant services and other goods and services. The most significant drops, on the other hand, concern the Transport division followed by Furniture, articles and services for the home.
