The Italians continue not to trust the current economic situation of the Belpaese, going from 97.2 to 96.2. Numbers that sound like an alarm bell, given that historically the August data from Istat were always positive, thanks also to the holiday effect. A signal therefore that even the holidays have brought a minimum of well -being to the Italians.
Italians tend to save
Analyzing the different components of the index, distinct trends emerge. Among the data that jump to the eye are those relating to savings:
- The current opportunity for savings is very high (+136.3);
- The future saving possibilities are negative (-12.5).
This suggests that families prefer to set aside now (perhaps for caution or to exploit returns) and refer the idea of saving in perspective, in view of important expenses or simply because they do not have enough money.
The opportunity to purchase durable goods (-60.0) is also strongly negative: the demand for appliances, cars, furniture is probably contained, with immediate effects on the retail and production sector.
The Italian economy scares
Italy’s economic situation worries families (-67.2 in August), while the judgments on the family budget are positive (+22.6 in August). Different data, which mean how families perceive macro level difficulties (such as inflation and national context) but believe they can manage their daily situation relatively better.
The expectations on the economic situation of the family have worsened (-19.6 in August), a signal that personal trust could deteriorate if the general context does not improve. The expectations on unemployment are high (+28.8), to indicate that many hope for an increase in jobs.
The associations: “Not even the summer helped Italians”
As there are positive data, others are instead negative. Normally the summer brought a little more optimism among the Italians, but this year the mood remains low. Massimiliano Dona, president of the National Consumer Union, commenting on the Istat data on the trust of August:
The worrying fact, however, is that usually in August there was a holiday effect. In short, the holidays as a rule support the optimism of the Italians until September, when after returning from the holiday they must deal with the first sting, that of the school. This time, however, also in the typical month of holidays, trust descends. It is even more alarming, then, that the expectations of the family’s economic situation also worsen, from -13.2 to -19.6, 6.4 percentage points less. In short, the Italians do not expect a rosy future.
Moreover, it could not be otherwise in the aftermath of a summer that the Italians have spent in the name of savings and renunciations. On the conditions of the increasingly precarious families, the return to school also weighs, which will involve significant disbursements: the Federconsumatori National Observatory has calculated that for each student, between expenses for textbooks and school set, it will be spent in a year about 1,200 euros.
Just Federconsumatori launches the alarm:
The government’s deafening silence is concerned about the growing economic suffering of families and the worrying growth of inequalities. For this reason we believe more and more urgent to start some immediate interventions that would help families, supporting their purchasing power and the entire economic system, relaunching internal demand.
