Italy's consumer price inflation increased unexpectedly in January, preliminary estimates from the statistical office Istat showed on Wednesday.
Consumer prices increased 4.8% yearly in January, following a 3.9% rise in December. Economists had forecast a rise of 3.8%.
On a month-on-month basis, consumer prices rose 1.6% in January.
The monthly growth was mainly due to prices of regulated energy products that rose by 42.9%, and to those of non-regulated energy products, which grew by 3.2%.
The core inflation remained unchanged at 1.5% in January.
Inflation, based on the harmonized index of consumer prices, rose to 5.3% in January from 4.2% in the previous month. Economists had forecast a rise of 4.0%.
The HICP rose 0.2% monthly in January. Economists had forecast a fall of 0.9%.
