According to a provisional estimate released on Friday by the national statistics office Istat, Italian inflation soared in October, at 11.9 percent on the year, the highest rate since March 1984.
Compared to a jump of 8.9% in September, the increase was driven by skyrocketing energy prices associated with the conflict in Ukraine.
According to Istat, the price of energy increased 73.2 percent in October compared to a surge of 44.5 percent the previous month.
Food costs have also continued to rise, rising 13.1% in October vs 11.4 in September.
The Bank of Italy anticipates inflation to average 8.5 percent higher than the prior year in 2022, then decline to 6.5 percent in 2023 and 2.3 percent in 2024 as energy prices stabilize.
Giorgia Meloni, the new prime minister of Italy, has vowed to offer additional assistance to people and businesses dealing with high energy costs.
