Sardinia manages to contain inflation , but fails to guarantee adequate wages . These two figures, when read together, highlight the profound fragility of the island's economy.

This is highlighted in a dossier from the CNA Sardinia Research Center , which re-elaborates the trend of ISTAT data.

According to the data, regional inflation in 2025 stood at 1.3% (average change in the NIC index), but with a decreasing profile over the course of the year , culminating in the low in November (0.7%) and with a consequent reduction in price growth at the regional level.

The decline in inflation was more marked in Sardinia than the national average (Italian inflation at 1.5%), with a gap that gradually widened over the course of the year. This represents a reversal of the recent past: between 2022 and 2023, Sardinia was one of the regions hardest hit by the inflation surge triggered by the energy crisis.

The real issue, however, is not so much inflation as the structural weakness of incomes . Over the course of five years, the average annual income of an employee in Sardinia has fallen from approximately €32,700 in 2019 to just over €31,000 in 2024, with a cumulative loss of more than €1,700 per employee. The regional figure is significantly worse than the national average, where over the same period the decline in income was limited to approximately €1,000. What does all this mean? A lower propensity to consume and an increase in relative poverty. In other words, in Sardinia the combined dynamics of prices and wages have penalized families more than in the rest of the country.

Looking at individual expenditure items, the regional context in 2025 is characterized by declining prices in the clothing and transportation sectors, which, after years of uninterrupted growth (+11.5% in 2022, +3.8% in 2023, +0.8% in 2024), have shown the first tentative signs of easing (-0.4%). Only food, beverages, and tobacco showed growth above the national average, unlike other components (with the exception of education spending). Accommodation and food services continue to see sustained price increases: the +2.9% increase in 2025 is consistent with increases in previous years (+6.9% in 2022, +5.8% in 2023, and +4.3% in 2024).

"Overall," say Luigi Tomasi and Francesco Porcu, President and Regional Secretary of CNA Sardinia, "the picture emerging from the analysis of regional inflation trajectories highlights cyclical and structural risks . A prolonged period of low inflation, if accompanied by stagnant real incomes and weak domestic demand, threatens to translate into anemic growth and a further deterioration of the regional productive base . Furthermore, the regional economy's heavy dependence on domestic consumption and tourism accentuates the production system's vulnerability to external shocks and seasonal cycles ."

"In this context," Tomasi and Porcu conclude, "regional economic policies should focus on restoring household purchasing power , supporting incomes and employment , especially quality employment. From this perspective, the objectives to be placed at the center of the political agenda include reducing involuntary part-time work, curbing excessive seasonality in contracts, promoting in-company training, strengthening the interaction between schools, universities, and businesses, and increasing employment rates, especially among women."

(Unioneonline/vl)

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