Italy’s irritating inflation ‘emergency’

5 million Italian households are suffering the effects of high inflation...

Consumer groups and trade unions urged the government to help struggling families after Italy’s inflation rate rose to a four-year high of 2.6% in December. Price curbs and income boosts were among the measures proposed after statistics institute Istat reported year-on-year rises of 12.3% for bread, 8.4% for pasta, 11.7% for petrol, 7.6% for milk, 3.5% for meat and 4.8% for fruit.

Carlo Rienzi, Head of the Codacons consumer association argued: ”With the cost of living at this level and record oil prices, the number of households on the poverty line could double, reaching five million. The government must declare a state of emergency on prices if it wants to avert a disaster”.

Codacons suggested a series of measures to help people make ends meet. They included ”cash hand-outs for food staples, blanket inspections (of prices) in shops and markets, increased competition in all sectors, starting with energy, and persuading retailers to drop prices by 5-10%”.