ROME: Italy’s industrial output unexpectedly fell in January, signaling that the economy may fail to emerge from a record-long recession this quarter.
Production decreased 0.7 percent from December, when it rose 0.4 percent, national statistics office Istat said in Rome. Economists had forecast a 0.2 percent increase, according to the median of 19 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey. Output fell 2.2 percent from a year earlier when adjusted for working days.
The production figures “are disappointing and suggest that risks are on the downside,” said Riccardo Barbieri Hermitte, chief European economist at Mizuho International Plc in London. “If the output keeps this pace, Italy’s GDP risks contracting again in the first quarter,” Barbieri said, adding that he still expects an output rebound in February.
Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, 40, took office 13 months ago with a promise to revive Italy’s sagging economy. His plans have been hindered by an unemployment rate consistently over 12.5 percent, a reluctance of employers to take on more workers and a lack of business investment.
Cheaper oil prices and a lower euro will support companies’ output and exports, allowing for an exit from Italy’s three-and-half year slump, Istat and Renzi’s government said previously.
