Italy’s economy to shrink for 3 quarters – Treasury

Italy’s economy may contract in the third quarter of the year and continue to contract over the next two quarters, according to the Treasury’s last forecasts.

The expectations say the eurozone’s third-largest economy is heading for a technical recession that economists have defined as two consecutive quarters of lower GDP.

The economy had resisted better than expected in the first half of the year and the GDP jumped 1.1 percent in the second quarter of the previous three months, but the Treasury’s Economic and Financial Document (DEF) published late on Friday said the downturn had already begun.