Italy: Consumer confidence moves further down in March
The consumer confidence index released by the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) declined to 111.2 points in March from February’s 112.4 points, marking the worst result since August 2017.
March’s deterioration was broad-based. Consumers’ assessments of the current general economic situation took another sharp dive, and their expectations of the future general economic situation also declined. Additionally, consumers’ willingness to buy big-ticket items also plunged. Moreover, consumers’ expectations on their future personal economic situation worsened, as did their outlook on unemployment.