Italy: Consumers grow more optimistic in March, unimpressed by political stalemate

The consumer confidence index released by the National Institute of Statistics (Istat) rose to 117.5 points in March, up from a revised 115.7 points in February (previously reported: 115.6). The reading significantly overshot market expectations of 115.0 points.

March’s reading reflected an improvement in consumers’ assessments of both their personal economic situation and the country’s current economic situation. Moreover, consumers’ expectations on unemployment also improved, as did their assessments of their current savings opportunities. On the other hand, consumers’ expectations on the future general economic situation declined slightly, probably due to the political stalemate resulting from March’s elections.

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%.