Italy's consumer, business confidence improves in August
Source: Xinhua | 2020-08-29
Italy's consumer and business confidence improved in August compared with the previous month, the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) estimated on Tuesday.
The consumer confidence index grew to 100.8 from 100.1 points. Three out of four components of the index improved, and specifically the economic climate, the current climate, and the future one, ISTAT explained in its monthly note.
The fourth component -- the personal climate -- slightly dropped to 104.9 points from 105.2 in July.
According to ISTAT, the rise in consumer confidence "is triggered by a marked improvement in expectations on the country's economic situation and on unemployment."
In July, consumer confidence slightly deteriorated to 100.1 points from 100.7 in June.
As for the business climate, the composite confidence index confirmed its growth trend, rising to 80.8 from 77.0.
All sectors improved, although at different levels. The highest increase was registered by the market services confidence index, which grew to 74.7 points from 66.0 points in July.
It was followed by the retail trade sector, construction and manufacturing, data showed.
"The confidence climate among firms grows for the third consecutive month," the statistical office noted.
However, it explained that, despite improving in all productive sectors, "business confidence indicators still remain far from the levels registered ahead of the COVID-19 health crisis, and especially in the market services."
The Italian economy has been severely hit by the coronavirus pandemic, which broke out in the country in late February. A national lockdown was imposed from March 10 to May 3, bringing all productive activities to a halt except for those in essential sectors.
Due to the impact of the lockdown, Italy's gross domestic product (GDP) shrank by 12.4 percent in the second quarter of 2020 compared with the previous quarter, and by 17.3 percent over the same period of 2019, according to the preliminary estimate provided by ISTAT on July 31.
The economy was expected to partially recover, recording an overall 9.5 percent drop of GDP by the end of the year, the Bank of Italy predicted in its latest bulletin.
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