ROME: Italian voters, who are being wooed by campaign promises before next month’s general election, got the first of a series of economic snapshots showing the state of the country’s recovery, and the news was better than expected. December industrial output rose the most in almost two years, the national statistics agency said Friday. In the last month of 2017 Italy’s production increased 1.6 per cent or twice the median forecast in a Bloomberg poll of 23 analysts. That was the biggest monthly rise since January 2016. It’s very good data allowing Italy to get off a good start to 2018,” said Luca Mezzomo, head of economic research at Intesa Sanpaolo SpA in Milan. “It shows investments are fully back, chiefly those in machinery with a rising demand internally and even from abroad despite the strong euro all this benefits business confidence and ultimately should make households more optimistic.
The industrial output data were in stark contrast with a monthly note posted earlier in the week by the statistics agency saying a “less intensity” marked the country’s economic activity in late 2017 and early 2018. On Wednesday, the European Commission said Italy’s economy will likely expand about 1.5 per cent this year, the slowest pace in the 19-nation euro area, adding that the country suffers from “limited growth potential.”The Brussels-based commission said that to obtain the projected 2018 economic expansion, the Italian government will need to keep implementing agreed-upon reforms and “prudent fiscal policies” With polls pointing to a hung parliament after the vote, rival parties have been warning of chaos or even repeat elections.
