Shillong, August 11: Italy’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) for July has decreased to 5.9%, down from June’s reported 6.4%, as announced by the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT).
The Xinhua news agency cites ISTAT, indicating that prices for crucial components of inflation calculations – transportation services, non-regulated energy goods, and processed food – have experienced a notable “deceleration” in July.
Transportation-related services observed a growth rate decline from 4.7% to 2.4% in July, while non-regulated energy services saw a reduced increase of 7.0% compared to June’s 8.4%. Additionally, processed food prices rose by 10.5%, a decrease from the prior month’s 11.5%.
Italy’s response to the European Central Bank’s (ECB) strategy of combating high inflation through continuous baseline interest rate hikes has been critical. The country argues that this policy hampers economic growth.
Italy’s economic performance has been uneven, with negative growth in two of the last three quarters. The fourth quarter of 2022 saw a contraction of 0.1%, followed by a 0.3% decline in the second quarter of 2023. The first quarter of the same year, however, experienced a growth of 0.6%.
