Average Italian inflation
slowed down for the third consecutive year, hitting its lowest
level since 1959 in 2015, Istat national statistics agency said
Tuesday.
Inflation slowed from +0.2% in 2014 to +0.1% last year,
dropping to its lowest level since 1959 when it was at -0.4%,
Istat said.
The average consumer shopping cart of food, home products
and personal care products became more expensive last year
(+0.8%) than in 2014 (+0.3%), Istat said.
The agency added that fuel prices plunged -10-3% in 2015,
against -2.1% the previous year.
In related news, a report by Coop large-scale retail
distributor said family spending is set to rise by 1.4% in 2016,
its largest annual increase in the past decade.
The Coop report said that 2016 is seen as "the year of
hope" by more than a third of Italians.
Another one in six of Italians are associating the year
with change, while for 14% the prevailing sentiment is fear.
Based on its survey of spending intentions, the report
found that per capita consumption will remain at levels seen in
the 1990s.
Italians will spend 1,700 euros less than they did in 2007
per capital, according to Coop.
Also on Tuesday, Coldiretti farmers association reported
food consumer prices grew 11 times the average rate of yearly
inflation (+0.1%), but those earnings did not benefit those who
produced the food.
"The trend in food prices reflects seasonal conditions but
it also the result of (market) distortions that still exist and
that occur after the products leave the field and before they
reach the table," Coldiretti said.
"In that phase, prices rise an average of five times,
albeit with differences between fresh produce and processed
foods".
Coldiretti added that Italian family spending on food and
beverages rose by an estimated 0.3% in 2015 after contracting
for seven consecutive years.
The positive trend is expected to continue this year, the
association said. Food spending is the second most important
family budget item after housing, and is a key indicator of the
state of the national economy, Coldiretti said.
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