Confcommercio improves GDP estimates, consumption still lagging behind

In 2022, GDP will stand at 2.5%, with an upward correction of about 0.4 percentage points compared to the previous assessment: this is the new estimate released by Confcommercio at the General Assembly.

Household spending also improves by about four tenths of a point compared to previous assessments, while inflation is estimated to grow by 6.3%.

As for consumption - including foreign tourism expenditure - the + 5.4% recorded in 2021 allowed only a partial recovery of what was lost in 2020 (-11.5%) and only in 2023 is a complete return to pre-pandemic levels.

Services left 930,000 jobs in the pandemic field compared to 2019, "and this threatens the resilience of the entire country", because "the service sector, that is our companies", is no longer able to compensate for the decline employment.

And "if the tertiary sector does not start again, Italy does not start again": said the president of Confcommercio, Carlo Sangalli, during the organization's annual meeting.

Sangalli also explained that with high inflation the purchasing power and savings of Italians are reduced, with the risk of further increasing the slowdown in consumption.