MILAN (Reuters) – Pessimism about the economic outlook has increased among Italian businesses as worries about an international trade war weigh on sentiment, the Bank of Italy said in a survey published on Tuesday.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to impose hefty tariffs on imports from Europe, China and other countries, stoking concerns over trade disputes.
The percentage of Italian firms reporting negative assessments in the fourth quarter rose to 30% from 21% in the central bank’s previous quarterly survey.
The share of businesses indicating an improvement was almost unchanged at 5% from 6%.
The unfavourable outlook “is still affected by economic and political uncertainty and, to a lesser extent, by fears over energy commodity price trends and, especially among exporting companies, over international trade policies,” the survey said, without elaborating on what kind of political concerns weighed.
The Bank of Italy’s poll also showed that businesses expect inflation to stand at 1.5% in 12 months’ time, down from 1.7% in the previous survey. According to the latest figures, EU-harmonised inflation in Italy stood at 1.4% year-on-year in December.
The central bank’s survey was conducted from Nov. 20 to Dec. 12 among Italian industry and services companies with at least 50 employees.
(Reporting by Sara Rossi, Editing by Bernadette Baum)
