Italy: Consumer confidence decreases but remains in negative territory in September
Consumer confidence came in at 105.4 in September, down from August’s 106.5. The index therefore declined for the third consecutive month, reaching its lowest value since June.
It showed a marked deterioration in assessments about the general economic situation, an increase in expectations about unemployment and an improvement in assessments over household’s financial situation.
Commenting on the release, Paolo Pizzoli, senior economist at ING, stated: “On the back of a slowly improving inflation backdrop, we believe the reason for the fall in consumer sentiment is due to signs of deterioration coming from the labour market. When matching this with the increase in the current opportunity to save sub-index, we have evidence of a possible ongoing increase in the Italian saving ratio with a negative bearing on private consumption.”