Italy's inflation slowed, business sentiment improved in 2023

Rome, Jan 6 (IANS) Italy's economy appears to have ended 2023 on a mostly positive note, with inflation continuing to slow, and consumer and business confidence on the rise, according to the latest data issued by the National Statistics Institute (ISTAT).

ISTAT said Friday that provision calculations of prices in the country showed a 0.6 pe rcent increase compared to the same period a year earlier, reports Xinhua news agency.

For the full year, prices were on average 5.7 per cent higher than in 2022.

Energy prices had a smaller impact, climbing by an average of 5.1 per cent year-on-year.

In her year-end address last week, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said she believed the Italian economy would outgrow that of the European Union as a whole in 2024.

ISTAT predicted the Italian economy would grow 0.7 per cent this year.

Italy's inflation rate stood at 5.9 pe rcent, 5.4 per cent and 5.3 per cent, respectively, from July to September 2023, but slowed down to 1.7 per cent, 0.8 per cent and then 0.6 per cent in the last three months of of the year after the government's anti-inflation plans entered into force.

In the "anti-inflation quarter", consumer prices were reduced on a basket of basic necessities.

When plans for the "anti-inflation quarter" were launched in September 2023, the government said it retained the option to extend the measures into 2024.

ISTAT's survey of consumer and business confidence also showed a positive note for the end of the year, in what the institute called "a widespread improvement".

Consumer confidence rose to 106.7 points from 103.6 points a month earlier, while business confidence climbed to 107.2 points in December from 103.5 points in November.