Other factors, such as an unusually hot and dry summer in Italy, are seen to have reduced domestic agricultural production by up to a third this year.
Prices in Italy were 8 percent higher in June than a year ago, the country’s National Statistical Institute (ISTAT) said, the most one-month increase in prices in 36 years.
The year-on-year increase was far higher than in May, when prices rose 6.8 percent, the highest one-month increase since Italy’s adoption of the euro currency in 1999, Xinhua news agency ISTAT reported. Said in a quoted report.
But the last time prices rose as much in a month was in June 1986, when Italy used the still defunct lira as its national currency.
On a month-on-month basis, prices in June were 1.2 per cent higher than in May, the institute said.
ISTAT said prices were a victim of “widespread inflationary stress” due to energy prices, which were up 48.7 per cent in June from a year ago. This is higher than the increase of 42.6 per cent between May 2021 and May 2022.
The main factor driving up energy prices is the Russo-Ukraine war.
Higher energy prices have driven up prices for processed food (up 8.2 percent in June), non-processed food (up 9.6 percent), recreational and personal care services (up 5.0 percent), transportation (up 7.2 percent). , and general services (up 3.4 percent), as all of those sectors rely heavily on energy use.
Other factors, such as an unusually hot and dry summer in Italy, are seen as causing up to a third of the reduction in domestic agricultural output this year.
But those developments are too recent to be fully reflected in the June inflation data.