Cgia, since the beginning of the US-Iran war inflation has been +4.4%

Since the beginning of the conflict in the Persian Gulf on February 28, inflation in Italy has increased by 4.4%, with peaks of +5.4% in Como, +5.1% in Siena and Lucca and +4.6% in Florence, Trieste, Verona, Vicenza and Syracuse. The items most affected by the price increases were electricity and gas with +28.7%, personal means of transport with +13.8% and passenger transport services with +9%, mobile phones and computers with +8.3% and accommodation services with +6.1%. This is what the CGIA research office on ISTAT data processing says.

The only items that have recorded a negative change in the last eight months were vehicle purchases with -0.1%, alcoholic beverages with -1.3%, household appliances with -2.2% and holiday packages with -8.1%.

Among the first 50 sub-items with the highest price increases, the largest increases were in recording media (cassettes, video cassettes, DVDs, CDs) with +64.8%, heating oil and kerosene for domestic use with +44.3%, heating gas with +39.2%, diesel with +32.2%, electricity with +23.9%, air passenger transport with +23.5% and petrol with +22.7%.

At a regional level, the most significant price increases affected Tuscany with +4.2%; followed by Sardinia and Veneto (+4%). These three regions, which have tourism as one of the strong points of their economy, have seen the prices of accommodation facilities increase by 36.1%, 17.6% and 44% respectively. Followed by Lazio and Sicily with +3.9%, Liguria and Friuli Venezia Giulia with 3.8%. The region least affected by the inflationary pressure was Trentino Alto Adige with +1.8%.

Among the 80 provincial capital municipalities, the most important inflationary flare-up was in Como with +5.4%. Followed by Siena and Lucca (+5.1%), Florence, Trieste, Verona, Vicenza and Syracuse (+4.6%), Venice (+4.5%) and Pisa (+4.4%). The municipalities least affected were Trento (+1.1%), Belluno (+0.9%) and Milan (+0.8%). It is plausible to believe, according to the CGIA, that in these last three cities the increases are more contained since in February the consumer price index in them was among the highest in the country.

If the trend of the last three months continues, the Research Office notes, food products also risk experiencing very significant increases. And those who pay the highest price would be low-income families, for whom essential expenses such as food, heating and lighting weigh more heavily on the household budget and cannot be contained much.

Even many small economic activities with high energy consumption could suffer an increase in fixed costs that is difficult to absorb through an upward adjustment of price lists, especially the gas-intensive sectors that work in the chemical, paper, glass, ceramic, cement/bricks and steel sectors, and the electrivorous ones, such as aluminium, plastic, rubber, textiles, food and the digital industry.