Italy recorded a rise in the country’s consumer price index (NIC) in March this year, with a 0.1% monthly gain and a 1.3% annual increase compared to the previous year.

This is up from February’s 0.8% year-on-year growth, according to initial estimates.

In addition, the NIC also registered a 1.8% annual increase for clothing and footwear and a 0.3% gain compared to the previous month, signalling a rally from the impact of winter sales.

A key factor that contributed to the annual growth of the country’s consumer price index was the slower fall in energy product prices.

Indeed, non-regulated energy products noted their price decline rate narrowed from -17.2% to -10.3%, whilst regulated energy product prices improved from -18.4% to -13.8%, according to S&P Global.

Furthermore, core inflation in Italy, which doesn’t take into account volatile items including energy and unprocessed food, registered a marginal rise to 2.4% in March from 2.3% the month before.

Meanwhile, inflation excluding energy edged down to 2.5% from 2.6%.

Elsewhere, within the goods sector there was a slight year-on-year decline of -0.1%, indicating a degree of stabilisation following the -0.9% fall recorded in February.

In addition, the Italian harmonised index of consumer prices (HICP) increased by 1.2% on a monthly basis in March and 1.3% on an annual basis, according to the latest data.

This was predominantly fuelled by winter sales in the clothing and footwear sector coming to an end, which are not taken into account by the NIC.

However, the HICP fell short of the average forecast of 1.4% month-on-month and 1.5% year-on-year according to 17 analysts polled by Reuters news agency.