According to official figures, Italy's economic growth in 2019 has slowed to its lowest level since 2014 of 0.3% compared with 0.8% in 2018. Italian authorities predicted a recovery rate of 0.1%, a consensus forecast by experts provided for an increase of 0.2%.
Consumer spending in Italy last year increased by 0.4%, government spending decreased by 0.4%. Business investment grew by 1.4%, including investment in construction jumped 2.6%. The volume of exports from Italy in 2019 increased by 1.2%, the volume of imports decreased by 0.4%.
Italy's budget deficit last year amounted to 1.6% of GDP, which is the lowest since 2007. In the previous year, the budget deficit was 2.2% of GDP. The public debt indicator remained at the level of 2018 – 134.8% of GDP.
The official forecast for 2020 assumes a country's GDP growth of 0.6%, but many experts note the possibility of a recession in the economy due to the spread of coronavirus. The Italian government intends to revise the budget parameters for 2020 to take into account the urgent costs of supporting the economy in the context of the spread of coronavirus.
The authorities plan to spend at least 3.6 billion euro to support the economy, including the provision of tax benefits to businesses, as well as measures to support exporters to mitigate the negative effects that the spread of coronavirus could have on the economy.
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