31st Aug 2015 10:07
ROME (Alliance News) - Italy's consumer price inflation held steady for the second straight month in July, defying economists' expectations for an ease, preliminary figures from the statistical office Istat showed Monday.
The consumer price index rose 0.2% year-over-year in August, the same rate of increase as in the previous two months. Economists had expected a 0.1% climb for the month.
At the same time, excluding unprocessed food and energy prices, core inflation eased slightly to 0.7% in August from 0.8% in July.
On a monthly basis, consumer prices edged up 0.2% in August, reversing a 0.1% drop in the preceding month.
The EU measure of inflation, the harmonized index of consumer prices increased at a faster pace of 0.5% annually in August, following a 0.3% rise in July. It was the fourth successive monthly hike.
Month-on-month, the HICP showed no variations in August after declining 2.0% in the prior month.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX