Italy's economy experienced growth for two consecutive quarters, ending in December, according to preliminary data released by the ISTAT statistical office. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) saw an increase of 0.2 percent in the last quarter, following a marginal increase of 0.1 percent in the preceding quarter. Contrarily, economic forecasters had predicted no change.
From a demand perspective, a drop was recorded in the change in inventories. However, net exports contributed positively to the country's economy. GDP grew by 0.5 percent annually, a significant increase compared to the previous quarter's marginal rise of 0.1 percent.
Throughout 2023, overall growth of 0.7 percent was registered in the Italian economy as compared to 2022. Concurrently, another set of official data indicated a 16.0 percent annual decrease in producer prices, following a 12.8 percent decline in November. Producer prices have been on a downward trend since April of 2023.
On an individual market level, domestic market prices plummeted by 20.5 percent, and foreign market prices decreased by 0.8 percent. Finally, on a monthly basis, producer prices dipped by 0.9 percent following a fall of 1.1 percent in November.
