The ECB is not enough, Italy remains in deflation – The Republic

MILAN – The expansion of quantitative easing from the ECB and the promises of its president, Mario Draghi, are not enough to Italy to exit from deflation: in March the prices recorded by Istat recorded a fall of 0.2% on the same period last year. Despite everything, however, the Institute of Statistics noted “slight signs of recovery” since – on a monthly basis – inflation is back on the rise (+ 0.2%) after two consecutive declines, while on an annual basis, the decline 0.2% is attenuated compared to -0.3% in February. Deflation also affected especially the new drop of energy products and in particular those not regulated as fuels (-11.2%, from -8.5% in February).

In detail, there are increases in March economic price for transport (+ 0.8%) and, to a lesser extent, for the accommodation services and restaurants (+ 0.3%), clothing and footwear (+ 0.2%). At the weigh – in this case – it is mainly the Easter festivities that prompted Italians to move for a short holiday, but also to eat more meals away from home. The economic contraction, however, relate mainly to shows and culture (-0.4%) and food products (-0.2%).

In particular, the “shopping cart prices” – with foodstuffs, for the care of the house and of the person purchased more frequently – decreased by 0.1% in March compared to February and by 0.3% on an annual basis. And ‘what emerges from the Istat provisional data which in February recorded a downward trend of 0.4%. In particular, prices of food (including alcoholic drinks) decreased by 0.1% on a monthly basis and recorded a yoy decline of stable and equal to -0.3%.

“With these numbers do not it goes anywhere, and particularly concerned about the data on the shopping cart, which decreases by 0.3% on an annual basis “says the president of Codacons, Carlo Rienzi, who then adds:” the deflationary effects will be very heavy for our economy, because they show that domestic demand is still weak, with negative consequences for industry, trade and employment. the government has not yet realized that deflation is a warning sign against which action is needed boosting consumption and increasing the power of ‘household purchasing, through structural measures that yield results in the long term. “

it is better to the rest of the Old continent starting from the Eurozone which in March remains in deflation while presenting weak signs of improvement: the rate decreased to -0.1% compared to -0.2% recorded in February. Looking at the main components recognized by Eurostat, the services have the highest rate (1.3%, 0.9% in February), followed by food, alcohol and tobacco (0.7%, 0.6% in February), products non-energy industrial (0.5%, in February 0.7%) and energy (-8.7%, -8.1% in February).