Italy: Inflation at Highest Level in 36 Years

The year-on-year increase was far higher than in May when prices rose 6.8 percent, which was itself the highest one-month increase since Italy adopted the euro currency in 1999. But the last time prices rose as much in one month as in June was in January 1986, when Italy still used the now-defunct lira as its national currency.

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The institute said that on a month-to-month basis, prices in June were 1.2-percent higher than in May.
   
ISTAT said prices were victims of "widespread inflationary tensions" led by energy prices, which were 48.7 percent higher in June than a year earlier. That is higher than the 42.6 percent increase between May 2021 and May 2022.
   
The main factor pushing energy prices higher is the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
   
Higher energy prices have also pushed prices higher for processed food (8.2 percent higher in June), non-processed food (9.6 percent higher), recreational and personal care services (up 5.0 percent), transport (7.2 percent higher), and general services (up 3.4 percent), since all those areas rely heavily on energy use.
  
Other factors, such as the unusually hot and dry summer in Italy, are seen as reducing domestic agricultural output by as much as a third this year. But those developments are too recent to be fully reflected in the June inflation figure.