Italy’s inflation up 2.5% in March

MILAN, (AFP) - Italy’s inflation rose in March to 2.5 percent on a year-on-year basis compared with 2.4 percent in February, pushed up by high fuel and food prices, the national statistics agency said Thursday.

Month-on-month inflation was 0.4 percent, according to preliminary figures published by ISTAT.

Economists had forecast 12-month inflation of 2.4 percent and a monthly inflation rate of 0.3 percent, according to a poll by Dow Jones Newswires.

Inflation in Italy has risen sharply since the end of 2010 -- jumping from 1.7 percent in November, to 1.9 percent in December, 2.1 percent in January and 2.4 percent in February -- due to a rise in food and fuel prices, ISTAT said.

The price of petrol was up 12.7 percent in March on a 12-month basis and diesel was up 18.5 percent.

Other price increases were recorded in the transport sector at 5.5 percent, alcoholic drinks and tobacco up 2.3 percent, and clothes and shoes up 1.2 percent.