Italy: Business confidence falls in August
Business confidence came in at 106.8 in August, down from July’s 108.9.
In August, sentiment in the construction and market services sectors worsened, as did sentiment in the retail trade sector. Moreover, sentiment in the manufacturing sector deteriorated.
Commenting on the release, Paolo Pizzoli, senior economist at ING, stated:
“All in all, today’s confidence data suggest that conditions are still ripe for the continuation of a soft economic environment. After the disappointing 0.3% GDP contraction in the second quarter, a very small rebound still looks possible in the third quarter. Whether this will materialise or not will depend on whether services are strong enough to compensate for industrial weakness. We still hold average Italian GDP growth of 1% in 2023 as our base case.”