Italy inflation rises more than expected

Italy's consumer price inflation increased more than expected in June, preliminary estimates from the statistical office Istat showed on Friday.

Consumer prices gained 8.0% year-on-year in June, following a 6.8% rise in May. Economists had forecast a rise of 7.4%.

On a month-on-month basis, consumer prices rose 1.2% in June.

The monthly growth was mainly due to prices of non-regulated energy products that grew 6.0% and those of services related to transport that rose by 2.0%. Prices of processed food including alcohol increased 1.7%.

The core inflation accelerated to 3.8% in June from 3.2% in the previous month.

Inflation, based on the harmonized index of consumer prices, rose to 8.5% in June from 7.3% in the previous month. Economists had forecast 7.8% inflation.

The HICP rose 1.2% monthly in June, which was faster than the 0.8% increase economists had forecast.