Italy Inflation Eases To 1.6%

(RTTNews) - Italy's consumer price inflation moderated slightly in August amid falling energy costs, preliminary data from the statistical office showed on Friday.

Consumer price inflation slowed to 1.6 percent from July's stable rate of 1.7 percent. Meanwhile, economists had expected the inflation to remain stable at 1.7 percent.

The annual price decline in energy prices deepened to 4.4 percent from 3.4 percent. Data showed that prices of unregulated energy products declined 5.9 percent.

Meanwhile, the price growth in unprocessed food products accelerated to 5.6 percent from 5.1 percent. Inflation based on food items rose to 3.0 percent from 2.8 percent.

Excluding energy and unprocessed food, core inflation rose from 2.0 percent to 2.1 percent.

On a monthly basis, consumer prices edged up 0.1 percent.

Inflation, based on the harmonized index of consumer prices, remained stable at 1.7 percent versus an expected rate of 1.8 percent. Monthly, the HICP dropped 0.2 percent