Italian consumer price inflation unexpectedly stayed flat in December instead of easing as economists had expected, but they saw a benign outlook for 2004.
Preliminary data from state statistics agency Istat today showed consumer prices had risen 2.5 per cent year-on-year, the same as November, whereas analysts were predicting 2.4 per cent.
"This is a discrepancy that is within the norm, it is not worrying," said Mr Luigi Speranza, an economist at BNP Paribas.
"In January there will be adjustments on some tariffs, but on the whole our expectations are not very negative for price trends. We need to watch tariff hikes, but I do not expect an upward trend for prices in the first quarter," said Mr Vincenzo Guzzo of Morgan Stanley in London.
Month-on-month prices increased 0.1 per cent in December, slowing from November's 0.2 per cent gain.
But the data showed Italy's inflation and the EU-harmonised figure converging.
