In April 2023, it is estimated that the national consumer price index for the whole community (Nic), including tobacco, recorded an increase of 0.4% on a monthly basis and 8.2% on an annual basis, from + 7.6% in the previous month; The preliminary estimate was +8.3%. This was noted by Istat specifying that the phase of inflation regression is interrupted, mainly due to a new acceleration in the trend dynamics of the prices of non-regulated energy goods (from +18.9% to +26.6%) and, to a lesser extent, to those of recreational, cultural and personal care services (from +6.3% to +6.9%) and various services (from +2.5% to +2.9%).

These effects were only partially offset by the sharper decline in prices of regulated energy (from -20.3% to -26.7%) and by the slowdown in those of processed food (from +15.3% to +14.0%), unprocessed food (from +9.1% to +8.4%), services related to housing (from +3.5% to +3.2%) and services related to transport (from +6.3% to +6.0%), reports Istat, commenting that it accentuates "the deceleration on a trend basis of the prices of the 'shopping cart', which fell to + 11.6%".

Core inflation excluding energy and fresh food slowed slightly from +6.3% to +6.2%, as did inflation excluding energy from +6.4% to +6.3%. The year-on-year growth in the prices of goods increased (from +9.7% to +10.4%), and to a lesser extent that relating to services (from +4.5% to +4.8%), bringing the inflationary differential between the services and goods sectors to -5.6 percentage points, from -5.2 in March.

"In the food sector, the prices of processed products, as well as those of unprocessed goods, show a weakening of their growth on a year-over-year basis, which contributes to the slowdown in core inflation," comments the statistical institute.

"The final Istat data on inflation unfortunately confirm all the alarms launched by Codacons in recent weeks about the rise in retail prices in many sectors that causes a sting equal to an average of + 2,398 euros per year per family", writes Codacons commenting on the inflation data in April. "The slowdown in inflation recorded in the last two months has proved to be an 'optical illusion' due to the fall in electricity and gas bills and, once the calming effect of energy goods has ended, the rate has returned to rise in a worrying way - comments President Carlo Rienzi -. Inflation at 8.2% is equivalent to a higher expenditure of +2,398 euros per year for the "typical" family that rises to +3,106 euros for a household with two children, caused by the still sustained growth of items such as food and the shopping cart, sectors that mark respectively +12.1% and +11.6% on an annual basis, while products with a high purchase frequency mark a + 7.9%".

The territorial differences on the retail price front are also very strong. The Codacons, on the basis of provincial data released today by Istat (municipalities over 150 thousand inhabitants), has developed the ranking of cities where inflation grows the most in April, and the relative spending effects on families based on the average consumption of resident citizens. Genoa is once again the city where inflation grows the most, with a rate of 9.7%, lagging behind Potenza, where prices increase by only 5.8% on an annual basis. In Milan the heaviest fallout, with the "typical" family that due to inflation at 9% spends 2,443 euros more on an annual basis.