Italy's consumer index rises to 102.5 from 98.1 in Dec 2022: Istat

Compared to the previous survey, the economic climate index jumped up from 95.2 to 106.3, the future one grew from 102.8 to 108.2, the current one progressed from 94.9 to 98.6, and finally, the personal one increased from 99.0 to 101.2, according to a press release by Istat.

As for business confidence climate, the index (IESI, Istat Economic Sentiment Indicator) bettered from 106.5 to 107.8.

The confidence climate in manufacturing showed a negative trend: indeed, it passed from 102.5 to 101.4. The unfavourable confidence evolution was due to both the deterioration of the assessments on order books and the contraction of the expectations on future production (the balances of the variables passed from -9.5 to -9.9 and from 6.1 to 3.8, respectively). To conclude, a slight accumulation of inventories emerged (the related balance went up from 4.4 to 4.8), added the release.

The retail trade confidence index marginally improved from 112.4 to 112.6. Particularly, respondents gave more positive assessments on current business activity, while they significantly worsened their expectations on future sales (the related balances passed from 18.3 to 23.3 and from 27.6 to 24.0, respectively). As for inventories, the balance increased from 0.9 to 1.7.

ALCHEMPro News Desk (NB)