ISTANBUL

Italy's average inflation hit 8.1% in 2022, the highest level since 1985, official figures showed on Tuesday.

The country's statistical authority said Italy's annual inflation rate came in at 11.6% in December, down from 11.8% in November.

"The slowdown of the growth on annual basis of all-item index was mainly due to the prices of non-regulated energy products (from +69.9% to +63.3%), and of unprocessed food (from +11.4% to +9.5%) and of services related to transport (from +6.8% to +6.0%)," the Italian National Institute of Statistics said.

"On the contrary, the prices of regulated energy products (from +57.9% to +70.2%), of processed food including alcohol (from +14.3% to +14.9%), those of services related to recreation including repair and personal care (from +5.5% to +6.2%) and of services related to communication (from +0.2% to +0.7%) speeded up."

In December, the inflation rate excluding energy and unprocessed food – core inflation – was at 5.8%, up from 5.6% in the previous month.