Italy’s economy is expected to grow by 1.3 percent in 2017, up from a previous forecast of 0.8 percent, Italian industrialists’ federation Confindustria said in a report released on Wednesday. In 2018, Italy’s gross domestic product (GDP) should expand by 1.1 percent, up from a previous forecast of one percent, according to the report by analysts at Confindustria’s think tank, CSC.
Confindustria analysts also pointed to Italy’s “extraordinary” results on the employment front, with 730,000 new jobs created since mid-2013.
However, the CSC report cautioned that 7.7 million Italians were still unemployed, with 60 percent of them having been out of a job for over a year.
High youth unemployment is “fueling strong emigration” from Italy abroad, and from the country’s chronically impoverished south to its wealthier industrialized north, the think tank warned.
The report appeared to agree with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which earlier this month also revised upwards its 2017 economic growth forecast for Italy, from 0.8 percent to 1.3 percent. The IMF said Italy was in the third year of “a moderate recovery” helped by government reform efforts, expansionary monetary policies, and low oil prices
