ROME, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- Prices in Italy rose 8.1 percent year-on-year in 2022, the government's statistics office reported on Thursday, with surging energy prices contributing the most to what was the largest full-year increase since the mid-1980s.
The full-year rate was the highest recorded in Italy since a 9.2 percent annual increase in 1985, when Italy still used the lira currency.
In December, prices were 11.6 percent higher than in the same month in 2021, and down from 11.8 percent in November. It was still the third highest one-month rate recorded since the introduction of the euro currency in 1999.
The seven highest monthly inflation rates recorded in Italy since 1999 have all been in the last seven months, according to the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT).
High energy prices have been responsible for the bulk of those increases, pushed higher by the energy supply challenges caused by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
The 8.1 percent annual inflation rate includes data from the early part of the year when inflation was still low. In contrast, prices rose just 1.9 percent in 2021 compared to the previous year. ■