Italy: Economic growth speeds up in the second quarter
According to a preliminary estimate, GDP growth gathered steam to 1.0% in the second quarter, from 0.1% in the first quarter.
On an annual basis, economic growth waned notably to 4.6% in Q2, following the previous period’s 6.2% expansion.
Looking at the breakdown of the quarter-on-quarter growth figure by expenditure, the statistical office said that domestic demand made a positive contribution to the final reading while net exports had a negative effect. In sectorial terms, the primary sector contracted while industry and services expanded. Growth in the service sector came on the back of less stringent Covid-19 restrictions and improved tourist arrivals.
A more detailed breakdown will be available on 1 September.
ING’s Paolo Pizzoli commented on the figures:
“The extent of the rebound in 2Q22 comes as a surprise, as the impact of the war in Ukraine should have been reflected in the data. We had expected an acceleration of GDP growth driven by investments linked to very favourable tax incentives for construction activities and to inflowing NextGenEU funding, and we suspect this will be confirmed by final data. We sense that the positive surprise is due to the remaining components of domestic demand: private consumption and inventory accumulation.”