ROME, May 16 - National statistics agency ISTAT confirmed on Friday that Italian consumer prices rose 2.7 percent in April compared with the same month in 2002. This confirmed preliminary data released at the end of April, which showed inflation unchanged from March, with increases in so-called sin goods like cigarettes and alcohol balanced out by falls in health services and communications. Month-on-month inflation, as measured by the NIC index, was 0.2 percent.
The EU-harmonised index of consumer prices rose at an annual rate of 3.0 percent, leaving the euro zone's third largest economy to battle with price pressures substantially above the European Central Bank's annual inflation ceiling of 2.0 percent.//