FX.co ★ Italy Inflation Slows More Than Estimated, Trade Surplus Grows

Italy saw a slight moderation in inflation for April, exceeding initial estimates, according to recent data from the statistical office ISTAT released on Thursday.

Separate official figures revealed that the nation's trade surplus expanded in March, attributed to a sharper decline in imports compared to exports.

In April, consumer prices recorded an annual increase of 0.8%, down from a 1.2% rise in March. This is marginally less than the 0.9% increase reported in the preliminary data from April 30. On a month-to-month basis, consumer prices rose by 0.1%, a revision from the initially estimated 0.2% rise.

Core inflation, which excludes volatile items such as energy and unprocessed food, decreased to 2.1% from 2.3%. The initial estimate had pegged core inflation at 2.2%.

The data indicated that prices for non-regulated energy products fell at a faster rate of 13.9%, while the decline in regulated energy products slowed to 1.3% from the previous 13.8%. The annual growth in prices for transport-related services also decelerated from 4.5% to 2.7%.

Inflation, based on the harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP), stood at 0.9% year-over-year in April, lower than March's 1.2% rise. This figure was slightly revised down from the initially reported 1.0%. On a month-to-month basis, the HICP increased by 0.5%, after a 1.2% rise in the previous month.

In March, the foreign trade surplus grew to EUR 4.34 billion from EUR 3.33 billion in the same period last year. However, this was a decrease from the EUR 6.0 billion surplus recorded in February.

Year-over-year, both exports and imports fell by 8.9% and 11.2%, respectively, in March. ISTAT reported that during the first quarter, Italian exports declined by 2.8%, primarily due to lower sales of base metals and metal products (excluding machinery and plants), pharmaceutical items, chemical-medical and botanical products, chemical substances and products, and leather goods (excluding clothing).