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Italy Feb CPI confirmed at 3-yr high of 2.4 pct

ROME: Italian retail inflation sped to an annual rate of 2.4 percent in February, the fastest rate for three years, definitive data confirmed on Monday.

Month on month, consumer prices rose 0.4 percent, national statistics institute said. That was the highest rise since October 1999.

Concern at Italy's heady CPI rate has led the government to launch a set of inflation-busting measures that it hopes will silence trades unions' warnings that wage restraint is in peril.

The new government decree, approved by ministers on Friday, targets fuel and tax insurance taxes and utility tariffs.

Monday's figures for the so-called NIC inflation index, a benchmark based on a full cross-section of Italian consumers, confirmed preliminary data released earlier this month.

In January, inflation ran at an annual 2.2 percent for a month-on-month rate of 0.2 percent.

As in previous months, energy was clearly the prime mover of price growth. Year on year, prices for housing, electricity and fuel jumped 4.8 percent, rising 0.4 percent from January.

Strong annual price growth was also seen in transport, up 4.1 percent, hotels and restaurants, up 3.0 percent. The communications sector was the only loser, with prices there sliding three percent thanks to tariff reductions. -Reuters