Italy Economy Real Time Data Charts

Edward Hugh is only able to update this blog from time to time, but he does run a lively Twitter account with plenty of Italy related comment. He also maintains a collection of constantly updated Italy economy charts together with short text updates on a Storify dedicated page Italy - Lost in Stagnation?


Thursday, November 01, 2007

Italian Retail Sales October 2007

Italian retail sales fell for the eighth successive month in October as slowing economic growth hurt consumer spending and prompted many shops to offer discounts to attract customers. The seasonally adjusted version of the Bloomberg retail sales Purchasing Managers Index retail rose in October to 48, up from 44.1 in September. The index is based on a survey of 440 retail executives compiled for Bloomberg by NTC Economics Ltd. Since the reading continues to register below 50 this means that sales are contracting, and have been contracting since February. The rate of contraction did however slow down slightly in October.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

i think your totally on the right page and i think your doing great with really showing the true details about ital's economy

Anonymous said...

If this government falls and i believe it will.Things are going to be really tough here and i don't think Italy has the solidarity or the resorces to face these major problems.Basically everbody is holding on to their own ,waiting for a miracle and that's what we need to get these guys to really work together and realise its now time to get their heads out of the sand.

Edward Hugh said...

Hi,

Thanks for the comments.

"If this government falls and i believe it will.Things are going to be really tough here and i don't think Italy has the solidarity or the resorces to face these major problems."

From this distance it is hard for me to judge the dynamics of the political process. But I agree that the future looks very difficult. Italy needs to get on a whole different growth path, and for that you need a complete change of mindset. The recent climbdown on raising the retirement age in January was like a local form of harikiri. I fear this will come back and haunt the Italian public debt issue.

"what we need to get these guys to really work together and realise its now time to get their heads out of the sand."

Absolutely agree. I'm not a political person, but basically think some sort of coalition of the centre parties would be the best bet, provided it had (like Angela Merkel's hasn't), the determination needed to take the bull by the horns and start making changes.