Rome [Italy], November 11: The Italian economy is likely to lose steam in the coming months after stagnating in the third quarter (Q3) of 2023, the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) said Friday.
Italy "had a better result than Germany, but worse than France and Spain, and its (economy) could slow down in the coming months," ISTAT said in its monthly report.
The downward trend was traceable in consumer and business confidence indexes already in October. "Surveys continued to show weakening confidence, with a negative sentiment prevailing in almost all of the survey components," it said.
According to ISTAT, the downward trend has been driven by an uncertain global economic outlook "due to escalation of geopolitical tensions and tighter financial conditions for households and firms."
On the supply side, the report showed Italy's industrial production remained unchanged in September from the previous month and increased marginally (0.2 percent) in Q3 over Q2.
Despite decelerating economic activity, labor market conditions in the country remained favorable, according to ISTAT. The employment rate in September rose to 61.7 percent, up by 0.1 percentage points compared to August and by 1.4 points year-on-year.
The unemployment rate increased by 0.1 points to 7.4 percent - still significantly higher than the euro area average --, while youth unemployment fell by 0.1 points to 21.9 percent, ISTAT said. On an annual basis, overall unemployment and youth unemployment fell by 0.5 points and 2.1 points, respectively.
Italy is the third largest economy in the European Union (EU), and it is forecast to grow by 0.9 percent this year and 0.8 percent in 2024, according to the European Commission.
The country's central bank was slightly more conservative in its latest projections, forecasting an annual growth of 0.7 percent in 2023 and 0.8 percent in 2024.
Source: Xinhua