"Today the level of GDP is 2.5% higher than in the fourth quarter of 2019. We have more than recovered pre-pandemic levels", but, warns the president of Confcommercio, Carlo Sangalli, at the annual assembly, "consumption still lags behind" which in the average of 2022 is about twenty billion euros lower than in 2019". And "they slow down, starting with food inflation, for that inflation that continues to bite, that erodes purchasing power". And he stresses: "Our sectors have been the most affected by crisis after crisis, but they have never given up".
"There is room for new jobs," says the president of Confcommercio, Carlo Sangalli, at the annual assembly. "The tertiary market is experiencing a persistent shortage of personnel", he warns: "In tourism and commerce, for example, compared to 2022, about 480 thousand workers are missing. And for more than 40 percent, there is a real risk that demand cannot be met, mainly due to a lack of skills. It is necessary, therefore, to intervene to bridge the gap between training and the needs of companies, as well as to plan adequate flows of immigrant workers".
ANSA Agency
Mattarella, 'the resources of the PNR for a solid and homogeneous development' - Economy
The 'contribution of every component of the economic and institutional system' says the head of state in a message to the assembly of Confcommercio (ANSA) is fundamental.
Confcommercio estimates for 2023 GDP growth of 1.2%, consumption by 1% and a "slight improvement" in 2024 (GDP + 1.3%, consumption + 1.1%). Inflation in 2023 is seen at 5.9% to fall to 2.3% in 2024. And on the performance of the economy he warns: the increase in GDP estimates is the effect "exclusively" of the "greater growth acquired": "the slowdown phase is confirmed, more intense in the second quarter than in the second half of the year". Phase "very similar to the pre-pandemic dynamics, stigmatized by all as insufficient to guarantee a balanced and widespread development of the economic well-being of the nation". "North-South gaps are widening", with the South in 2023 "It will grow almost three times less than the North. Lombardy with a growth of 1.7% is the region with the best performance, in last place Calabria and Sardinia with zero growth". The South appears "stuck in the pits" according to the analysis on regional economies of the Confcommercio study center, released to coincide with the annual assembly: it is a gap that is confirmed "also for consumption with the South at + 0.4% and the North at + 1.2%". By areas, the 2023 GDP estimate is +1.4% for the North-West and North-East, +1.2% in the Centre (and on average for the country), +0.5% in the South +0.5%
