Italy Inflation Climbs To 1.5%, Highest In 15 Months

(RTTNews) - Italy's consumer price inflation rose at the start of the year to the highest level in more than a year, preliminary data from the statistical office showed on Monday.

Consumer price inflation accelerated to 1.5 percent in January from a 1.3 percent stable rate of increase in December.

The upward trend in inflation was mainly due to a 27.8 percent surge in costs for regulated energy products compared to a 12.7 percent growth in December.

Meanwhile, the decline in prices for non-regulated energy products eased to 3.0 percent from 4.2 percent. Data showed that the annual price growth in food, including alcohol, accelerated to 2.0 percent from 1.7 percent.

Excluding energy and unprocessed food, core inflation was stable at 1.8 percent.

On a monthly basis, consumer prices moved up 0.6 percent in January versus an expected increase of 0.4 percent.

Inflation, based on the harmonized index of consumer prices, rose to 1.7 percent in January from 1.4 percent in the previous month. Monthly, the HICP decreased 0.7 percent.