Italy's Inflation Surges to Highest in 30 Months, Driven by Energy Costs

(MENAFN) In March, Italy's inflation rate surged to 1.9 percent year-on-year, marking its highest level in two and a half years, as reported by the National Statistics Institute (ISTAT) on Wednesday.

The rise in prices is largely attributed to escalating energy costs affecting the Italian economy. This figure represents an increase from February's rate of 1.6 percent, with a month-on-month rise of 0.3 percent.

The 1.9 percent annual inflation rate is the highest since September 2023, when a significant spike of 5.3 percent was recorded, following a prolonged period of price hikes largely driven by the Ukraine conflict. In response, the Italian government had introduced a temporary "anti-inflation quarter" in late 2023, which included price caps on essential goods.

Although the year-on-year inflation rate had decreased to 1.7 percent by November and remained below 2.0 percent in the following months, it has recently shown a gradual increase.

ISTAT indicated that the primary contributor to the March price hikes was the cost of unregulated energy goods, which rose by 0.7 percent, reversing a previous decline of 1.9 percent.

Other sectors also saw price increases in March, with tobacco prices climbing by 4.6 percent (up from 4.1 percent in February) and unprocessed food prices rising by 3.3 percent (compared to 2.9 percent in February).

Core inflation, which omits the fluctuating prices of energy and fresh food, held steady at 1.7 percent in March, the same as in February.

As the first quarter of 2025 concluded, Italy's overall inflation rate was noted at 1.3 percent, with core inflation for that timeframe at 1.0 percent.

Even with this recent increase, Italy's inflation rate remains lower than the European Union (EU) average. In March, the EU's inflation rate was recorded at 2.2 percent, a slight decrease from 2.3 percent in February.

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