Italy business confidence slips in September but consumer morale hits record high

According to the report from National statistics institute ISTAT, morale amongst Italian businesses slipped for a second month running in September but consumer confidence jumped to its highest level for more than 23 years.

In September 2021, the consumer confidence index rose from 116.2 to 119.6. The improvement was particularly evident in the economic climate that surged, in fact, from 132.4 to 143.6. However, the other index components also increased: the current one rose from 112.0 to 116.1, the future one improved from 122.5 to 124.7 and, finally, the personal one bettered from 110.8 to 111.5.

As for the business confidence climate, the index slipped from 114.0 to 113.8.

The confidence index in manufacturing diminished from 113.2 to 113.0. The confidence index in construction rose from 153.8 to 155.5. The market services confidence index improved from 111.8 to 112.3. The retail trade confidence index went down from 113.6 to 106.8. The deterioration in confidence did not characterise both distribution channels: the index clearly dropped in the large scale distribution (from 118.5 to 109.3), but it showed a slight improvement in the small and medium scale one (from 101.9 to 102.3).