Inflation in Italy Surges to New High

Prices in Italy were 8.4 percent higher in August than they were a year earlier, a level that had not been recorded since December 1985, the country's National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) reported Wednesday.

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Preliminary data from ISTAT showed prices in August were 0.8 percent higher than in July.

Energy-related goods were the main factor behind the jump, ISTAT said, with a year-on-year increase of 44.9 percent, higher than the 42.9-percent rise in July compared to a year earlier.

Over the three months starting in June, Italy's annualized inflation rate has been 8 percent, 7.9 percent, and 8.4 percent, respectively -- the three highest monthly totals on record since the formal creation of the euro currency in 1999.

Despite the increase in energy prices, the rate of increase for transportation services slowed slightly in August, rising by 8.4 percent compared to a year earlier, down from the 8.9-percent annualized increase registered in July.

Prices for consumer goods rose to 11.8 percent, while costs for services climbed 3.7 percent, ISTAT said.

Meanwhile, the core inflation rate, excluding energy prices and volatile consumer goods like food, was 4.4 percent, the highest rate since May 1996.

Over the first eight months of the year, the cumulative inflation rate is 7 percent compared to the same period in 2021.