According to the report from Istat, in May 2020 the rate of change of Italian consumer price index for the whole nation (NIC) was -0.2% both on monthly basis and with respect to May 2019 (inflation was zero in the previous month); the flash estimate was -0.1%.

The decrease on annual basis of all items index was mainly due to the widening of the decrease of prices of non-regulated energy products (from -7.6% to -12.2%).

Core inflation (excluding energy and unprocessed food) was +0.8% and inflation excluding energy was +1.0% (the same as in the previous month for both).

The decrease on monthly basis was mainly due to the decrease of prices of non-regulated energy products (-4.2%), only partially offset by the increase of prices of unprocessed food (+1.2%).

Prices of grocery and unprocessed food increased by 0.5% on monthly basis and by 2.4% on annual basis (down from +2.5% in the previous month).

In May 2020 the Italian harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP) decreased by 0.3% both on monthly basis and on annual basis (down from +0.1% in the previous month); the flash estimate was -0.2%.