Inflation confirmed at 1% in January, shopping trolley falls to +1.9%

In January 2026, the national consumer price index for the entire collectivity (NIC), gross of tobacco products, recorded a change of +0.4% on a monthly basis and +1.0% on an annual basis (from +1.2% in December), confirming the preliminary estimate. This was reported by Istat, specifying that January's cost of living was at the lowest level recorded since November 2024 (+1.3%). The growth in consumer prices is mainly affected by the trend in food prices, unprocessed (+2.5%) and processed (+1.9%), services related to housing (+4.4%), tobacco (+3.3%) and recreational, cultural and personal care services (+3.0%).

The shopping trolley cooled down in January: the year-on-year growth rate of prices for food, household and personal care goods was +1.9%, lower than the +2.1% preliminary estimate and the +2.2% recorded in December.

In January, 'core inflation', net of energy and fresh food, was +1.7% and that net of energy goods alone was +1.9%. Also last month, the prices of goods recorded a trend change of -0.2%, while the prices of services rose by +2.5%. The differential between services and goods is therefore +2.7 percentage points. The prices of goods with a high purchasing frequency rose by 1.9%, as did those of the shopping trolley. The cyclical change in the overall index (+0.4%) was mainly affected by price increases in Regulated Energies (+8.9%), Housing-related Services (+1.9%), Food, Unprocessed (+1.2%) and Processed (+0.6%), Unregulated Energies (+1.1%), Durable Goods (+0.8%) and Recreational, Cultural and Personal Care Services (+0.7%). The only decline on a cyclical basis is recorded for prices of transport services (-3.8%). Acquired inflation for 2026 is +0.4% for both the general index (it was zero in December) and the core component (+0.2% in December). The harmonised consumer price index (HICP) changed by -1.0% on a monthly basis, due to the start of the winter clothing and footwear sales (not considered for the NIC index), and by +1.0% on an annual basis (from +1.2% in the previous month), confirming the preliminary estimate. The national consumer price index for blue- and white-collar households (Foi), net of tobacco, instead recorded an economic change of +0.3% and a trend of +0.8%.