New Istat basket, consumer associations: “Too little weight on bills, fuel and food”

As usual every year, the Istat basket of consumer prices changes for the calculation of inflation. New items enter, others are rebalanced and increase or decrease in weight in the overall calculation of the cost of living. Consumer associations are pointing the finger at this last aspect.

Among the innovations this year, with reference to the Nic index (for the entire community), in 2023, the weight of the divisions will in fact increase: “Accommodation and restaurant services” (+1.9 percentage points), “Home , water, electricity and fuels” (+0.8 percentage points) and “Recreation, entertainment and culture” (+0.7 percentage points), and that of “Food products and soft drinks” decreased (-1.4 percentage points percentage points), “Health services and health expenditure” (-0.4 percentage points) and “Alcoholic beverages and tobacco” (-0.4 percentage points).

The finger is pointed above all on energy and food. With regard to the weight of the item “Housing, water, electricity and fuel”, it is true that this division was given more weight but given the moment, consumers expected more. “Good, positive that the weight of the Housing, water, electricity and fuel division has increased”, even if, given the lunar prices of electricity and gas bills, we wonder if adequately with respect to the revaluation effect – they say from the National Union Consumers -. In fact, the weight of electricity rises significantly, by 31.1%, and gas also marks a significant increase of 23.7%, but it should be considered that in 2022, on average, again according to Istat data, the two voices recorded a much higher increase, compared to 2021, equal to 110.4% and 69.2% respectively ».

«Perplexities also on fuels and lubricants for private means of transport which drop by 11.3%, compared to an average increase of 17 percent, as well as on food products and soft drinks, weight -7.4% against of an average inflation in 2022 of +9.1%» says Massimiliano Dona, president of the National Consumer Union. And “doubts also about the drop in rents, water supply, waste collection” concludes Dona.

The position of Codacons is similar: «New goods increasingly present in Italian homes are entering the basket, such as intelligent audio equipment, and very widespread and requested services such as smartphone repair and beauty massages – explains the president of Codacons Carlo Rienzi -. What is not understood, however, is the second consecutive reduction decided by Istat for the weight of the item “Food products and non-alcoholic beverages”, a sector which is particularly affected by high prices and whose inflation has a significant impact on household budgets , especially the numerous or low-income ones» – concludes Rienzi.

More generally, it should be remembered that this year, among the products representative of the evolution of household consumption and the new regulations, sports medical check-ups (freelance), smartphone repair and intelligent audio equipment are among the products. Among the products introduced to improve the representativeness of the basket, several types of organic fruit and vegetables and seedless grapes should also be mentioned. As far as clothing is concerned, there are also women’s leggings or jeggings which are added to the other products in the women’s trousers aggregate.

Among the products that represent consolidated consumption, enter the tuna fish and farmed turbot, the walker, the beauty massage. Do not open attachments if the identity of the sender is not known. Always verify the authenticity of the link of the page that requests your data.