Italy: Business confidence increases in April
Business confidence came in at 110.5 in April, up from March’s 110.1.
In April, sentiment in the construction and market services sectors improved. Conversely, sentiment in the manufacturing and retail trade sectors weakened.
Commenting on the release, Paolo Pizzoli, senior economist at ING, stated:
“All in all, today’s confidence report still supports the idea that the Italian economy could post positive GDP growth in the second quarter. For the time being, indications are that this will be down to services, while the possibility of a positive push from industry is much more uncertain. The ongoing decline in inflation will obviously help, but for a more visible acceleration to materialise we will have to wait for an inversion of the core measure profile as well.”