Italy's annual inflation stood at 1.6% in February, the country's National Statistics Office (INE) said in its final report on Monday. The figure was revised from the preliminary reading of 1.7% and up from January's figure of 1.5%. The monthly rise in the consumer price index (CPI) was unchanged from the preliminary report at 0.2%.
The acceleration was primarily driven by energy prices, with regulated energy products rising 31.4% annually, up from 27.5% while the decline in non-regulated energy slowed from negative 3% to negative 1.9%. Food prices also contributed, with unprocessed food inflation increasing to 2.9% and processed food to 1.9%. On the contrary, services related to transport, communication and recreation slowed.
Core inflation, which excludes energy and unprocessed food, went down to 1.7%. The Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) increased by 1.7% annually and by 0.1% monthly.
