Italy’s consumer confidence down in August ’24

Italy experienced a notable decline in consumer confidence in August 2024, with the index falling from 98.9 to 96.1.

The economic climate inchd down from 105.6 to 102.3, the personal climate from 96.5 to 93.8, the current climate from 98.5 to 96.3, and the future climate from 99.4 to 95.7.

Despite this, the business confidence climate, measured by the Istat Economic Sentiment Indicator (IESI), showed a slight improvement, rising from 94.3 to 94.7.

However, the manufacturing confidence climate saw a decline from 87.6 to 87.1, with negative assessments on order books and production expectations.

The construction confidence climate also dropped slightly, driven by more negative opinions about future employment, although assessments on order books improved.

Conversely, the market service confidence climate rose from 96.0 to 97.9, with respondents expressing greater satisfaction with the current volume of business activity and order books.

In the retail trade sector, confidence decreased from 102.6 to 101.4. Respondents gave a less favourable assessment of current business activity, with the balance falling from 10.9 to 7.8.

However, expectations for the future volume of sales improved, and the level of inventories grew.

Attribution: Italian National Institute of Statistics (Istat)

Subediting: Y.Yasser