Italy’s headline CPI rose +0.8% MoM and accelerated to +1.6% YoY in February (from +1.0% YoY in January), reflecting firmer service-sector and unprocessed food inflation.

• The pickup in annual inflation was driven by Services related to transport, which accelerated to +3.0% YoY (from +0.7%), and Services related to recreation, repair and personal care, which increased to +4.9% YoY (from +3.0%), indicating stronger price pressures across key service categories.

• Unprocessed food inflation rose to +3.6% YoY (from +2.5%), while Processed food including alcohol eased slightly to +1.7% YoY (from +1.9%), showing divergent trends within food components.

• Regulated energy prices fell -11.3% YoY (from -9.6%) and Non-regulated energy declined -6.2% YoY (from -5.9%), signaling deeper annual contractions in energy even as overall inflation accelerated.

• Goods prices remained unchanged at -0.2% YoY, while Services inflation increased to +3.6% YoY (from +2.5%), widening the services-goods inflation gap to +3.8 p.p. (from +2.7 p.p.), highlighting the growing divergence between categories.

• On a MoM basis, the +0.8% rise was mainly driven by Tobacco (+3.3%), Services related to recreation (+2.1%), Services related to transport (+2.0%), Unprocessed food (+1.1%) and Non-regulated energy (+0.4%), partially offset by a -1.2% decline in Regulated energy.

• The Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) increased +0.6% MoM and +1.6% YoY (from +1.0% YoY in January), aligning with the national CPI in showing a renewed acceleration in annual inflation.