ANKARA

Italy's annual inflation rate hit 8.9% in September, the highest in nearly 37 years, the country's statistical office said Friday.

The figure was up from 8.4% in August, according to figures released by the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT).

The speed-up of the growth on an annual basis of the all-item index was mainly due to the prices of food including alcohol -- 11.41% up from 10.1% in August.

Energy price inflation while remaining high was down slightly -- 44.5% from 44.9% -- contributing to lower inflation for transportation -- 7.2% down from 8.4%.

On a monthly basis, consumer prices went up 0.3% in September, picking up from a 0.8% jump in the previous month.