Italy: Consumer confidence recovers some lost ground in September

The consumer confidence index released by the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) edged up to 116.0 points in September from August’s revised 115.3 points (previously reported: 115.2 points).

Consumers’ expectations of the future general economic situation and their assessments of the current general economic situation improved, while their expectations of their future personal economic situation and their assessments of their current personal economic situation deteriorated slightly. Meanwhile, consumers’ willingness to buy big-ticket items, their unemployment expectations, their assessments of their current financial situation, and their assessments of future saving possibilities improved.

Italy Private Consumption Forecast

FocusEconomics Consensus Forecast panelists expect private consumption to expand 1.0% in 2018, which is unchanged from last month’s forecast. For 2019, panelists see private consumption growing 0.9%, also unchanged from last month’s projection.