Italy Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) y/y

The Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) y/y reflects the change in the prices of a consumer basket of goods and services intended for the final household consumption in the given month compared to the same month of the previous year. The data for the Italy's HICP is collected by the Italian National Institute of Statistics ISTAT according to common European rules and is harmonized across Europe to enable the compatibility of the the index in different European countries.

The index is calculated by taking into consideration the basket of goods and services that is constructed in relation to the individual peculiarities of each of the countries and the rules common to these for the weighting of the goods and services that make up this basket. There is an exclusion of lotteries and lots ("lotti"), and predictive competitions. This index enables comparison of inflation between EU member states and is a key indicator used by the European Central bank in determining the monetary policy.

There are two other indices of consumer prices, NIC and FOI, which differ from the HICP (HIPC) in the type of price taken into consideration when calculating the Consumer Price Index, or in other words the Harmonized Consumer Price Index refers to prices actually paid by consumers, while the NIC (the national consumer price index for the entire community) and FOI (the national consumer price index for workers 'and employees' families) always consider full sales prices. So for example the consumer price indices NIC and FOI consider the full prices while the HICP uses in calculations the prices of goods and services taking into account discounts and promotions.

Regarding the survey, the price data is collected on sales points, representing the main types of commercial activities that consumers attend to make their purchases.

Higher than expected HICP y/y figures are usually seen as positive for the euro quotes.