The latest Istat data show how, during the month of April, the inflation rate started to grow again: the prices of energy goods above all contribute to this increase. What is the impact, in terms of numbers, on families?
Inflation on the rise
“With inflation at these levels, the repercussions for families are extremely burdensome”, declares the Federconsumatori National Observatory, whose estimates calculate an impact on families “equal to 2,473.40 euros per year”. Codacons is also concerned, which writes : “inflation at 8.3% is equivalent to higher spending equal to +2,428 euros per year for the average family, which rises to +3,144 euros for a household with two children, a sting caused by the still rapid growth of items such as groceries and shopping carts, sectors that respectively mark +12.6% and +12.1% on an annual basis” and Assoutenti.
Increase the cost of living
The chairman, Furio Truzzi, explains: “and price list dynamics still show heavy increases for primary goods such as food, which rose by +12.6% in April: translated into a nutshell, this means that a family with two children finds itself spending +969 euros per year for food alone. We fear that speculation and anomalies are being recorded in the trend of retail price lists, with some goods seeing double-digit increases on an annual basis even in the absence of increases in raw materials, and without any repercussions caused by the war in Ukraine or by the trend of bills”.
Some numbers
Here are some of the data collected by the European statistical office for the month of April, which shows a decidedly negative trend compared to the current average purchasing power of citizens.
- Energy prices: +2.5% compared to -0.9% in March
- Earned inflation: 5.4%
- The purchasing power of households recorded 12 billion less than last year
- 72% of Italians shop at low cost discount stores; 83%, on the other hand, aims exclusively at products on offer
Compared to the painted situation, the consumer association has made demands on the government. Federconsumatori declares: “It is necessary to adopt timely measures to reverse this trend, launching interventions aimed at supporting household incomes and purchasing power. The cut in the tax wedge goes in this direction, but it would be necessary to make it structural: limiting the intervention to just 5 months is insufficient and represents yet another spot measure”.
