The S&P Global Italy Composite PMI registered 50.4 in May 2026, virtually unchanged from April’s 50.5. Beneath the headline figure, a steeper contraction in services activity was largely counterbalanced by stronger growth in manufacturing output. Overall, new business volumes recorded a slight decline, with weakness concentrated in the services sector, in contrast to April’s pattern. Both manufacturing and services firms reported modest increases in employment, while backlogs of work were broadly unchanged.
At the same time, inflationary pressures intensified. Input cost inflation accelerated to its highest rate in more than three and a half years, and firms raised their selling prices at the fastest pace in just over three years, as they sought to pass higher costs on to customers.
