Italy's consumer confidence sees slight rise in Feb 2024

The economic climate index, a critical measure of economic sentiment, experienced a downturn, falling from 103.1 to 102. Similarly, the future climate index, which gauges expectations for the economic future, remained almost unchanged, dipping slightly from 97.2 to 97.1. On a positive note, both the personal and current climate indices showed improvement, with the former climbing from 93.9 to 95.2, and the latter from 95.8 to 97.

However, the business confidence climate, measured by the Istat Economic Sentiment Indicator (IESI), reflected a decline, moving down from 97.9 to 95.8. This downward trend was echoed in the manufacturing sector, where confidence slipped from 88.1 to 87.3. The decline was particularly marked in production expectations, which saw a significant shift from a positive balance of 0.7 to a negative 0.9. Moreover, the balance of assessments on order books and inventories also deteriorated, indicating a challenging outlook for the manufacturing industry.

Retail trade confidence also saw a dramatic decrease, plunging from 106.3 to 100.6. This drop was driven by negative shifts in current business activity, future sales volume expectations, and an increase in overstocks.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DP)