“The slowdown in household demand should have triggered a recessionary cycle, of reduced duration and intensity”. This is what the Confcommercio research office affirms, which estimates for January a GDP “down by 0.9% in economic terms, with a growth of 0.4% on January 2022, laying the foundations for a recessionary first quarter”. As for inflation, in January consumer prices should register an increase of 0.6% over December, bringing the trend rate to 10.5% (from 11.6% in December). But for Confcommercio it is “difficult to hypothesize an average price growth in 2023 below 6%”. The important legacy of 2022 (inflation acquired for 2023 was equal to 5.1%) “and the continuing growth of underlying inflation make it, however, difficult to hypothesize an average price growth in 2023 below 6 %”, explains Confcommercio.
According to Confcommercio – the phase of “contradiction” between the evidence emerging from the economic indicators continues. “A strong recovery of confidence is contrasted by the zeroing out of consumption growth in the last quarter of 2022. Production and employment are expected to decrease between last November and the current month of January, yet very favorable signs are seen on the side of inflation, very high but likely to decrease significantly in the coming months”. “Despite the erosion of the purchasing power of current incomes and liquid wealth, only partially compensated by public support, the attitude of households remains positive and there are no radical changes in purchasing behavior. Therefore, we can exclude at least in the short term, drastic and generalized reductions in demand”. In November, industrial production confirmed its downward trend, “a trend that would last until the first months of 2023, according to the indications of entrepreneurs. In November, the labor market showed substantial stability with a slight reduction in the number of employed (-0.1% on October, equal to -27 thousand units). In the same month, consumption, expressed in the CCI metric, confirmed the trend towards less dynamism, with growth of 0.4% on an annual basis. data is the synthesis of a decline in demand for goods (-0.2%) and growth for services (+2.7%).Overall in 2022, the CCI recorded a growth of 4.2%, synthesis of a more marked recovery of services (+15.5% on 2021) and moderate growth in the demand for goods (+0.4%).Despite this very positive trend, consumption levels remain well away from the values overall for 2019 (-4.1%).Services are confirmed as lagging behind (-11.2%), as is the segment to the automotive sector (-23.8%) and clothing and footwear (-6.6%).
