ROME: Figures from the national statistics body Istat say the eurozone’s third-largest economy recorded growth of 1.4 percent last year, the fastest rate in seven years.
However, overall economic output is still nearly six percent lower than before the financial crisis hit in 2008 and Italy is way behind the 2.5 percent growth recorded by the eurozone last year, according to Eurostat.
Economists say this weakness is primarily due to Italian productivity being among the lowest in Europe, which in itself is due to factors like lack of credit, a mismatch between training and what companies need and a business environment that doesn’t give entrepreneurs a helping hand.
“Since 1999, the productivity gap between Italy and the other major eurozone countries has widened significantly,” says Nicola Nobile from Oxford Economics.
