The Village

Monday 13 January 2003 at 16:00

The credibility problems at ISTAT, Italy's national statistics office, are getting worse.

For a year it has been telling Italians that the inflation rate is some way below 3% despite a clamour from consumers that prices are rising much faster. Now a trade union has come up with a novel solution to the big discrepancy between what people feel they are paying and the official verdict – personalised inflation rates.